TARGET 111130

Where the End is a New Beginning

The End? No.

Moscomet Co, Ltd is a waste recycler in Moscow, Russia. Such companies are pretty common abroad, but Russians have little experience in this field. The company is run by a Finnish owner, and maybe that is why it is so efficient and thorough.

Piles and piles

According to the company’s director, trash has been piling up in landfills and trash piles for years and years and there has been no effective recycling of anything. So, he reports that although he has been able to create an effective waste recycling system with the support of the government, his business has probably done more for the Russian government than they have done for him.

The delivery truck arrives

Moscomet doesn't just take in trash trucks from residential pickups. It generally takes discarded material from different types of companies and manufacturers, from demolition yards, etc. Since most of the material comes from specific types of companies, it tends to already be sorted by type.

Yes, even the kitchen sinks

If the exact composition of the material is mixed or not known, it is sorted out manually.

Moscomet has around 30 buyers for the results of its work. The metals are separated with the help of magnetic separation. They extract up to 78 kinds of metal. The output of commercial components may reach 90%!

They sell plastic (or granulated plastic, to be more precise). They recycle cars as well (‘cash for clunkers’ program in Moscow - imagine that!). Everybody can recycle his/her car which costs 3 000 rubles (100 dollars). Car generators cannot be recycled here, they are sent to Podolsk. They collect all fluids (oil, brake fluid) and send them for recycling to core enterprises. Unfortunately, Moscomet does not recycle regular batteries. Up to 99% of batteries because are sent to Finland where the producers of batteries pay for their recycling. Car batteries are not recycled in Russia. All in all, Moscomet recycles about 20-30 tons of scrap metal a month.

FEEDBACK MAP

If you got impressions for which this feedback is insufficient, please take a look at the following web sites for more:

English Russia
Kuusakoski (parent company - parts of site are in Swedish)
Jalopnik
Socialphy