Elena Baker
Alicia Gonzalez
Crystel Salazar
Paulina Gonzalez
Universidad de Monterrey
Blanca Camargo
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Lyrba recycles over 100,000 tons every year of residues like railway sleepers, HDPE, PET Crystal and multicolor foil, outside flooring, wood stages, rack stages, and other materials to generate new products for the industrial sector. With these processes they contribute to environmental care, social environment, and reducing energy.
They have five recycling parks that include activities like: technology to wash plastics, re-manufacturing recycled wood, pressing wood, cardboard, metals and sheets, destruction of scrap, chemical cleaning of metallic parts, and more.
The innovation is not only recycling but reusing plastic materials that can't be recycled because of their chemical properties. Plastics are divided into seven categories, depending on their chemical properties. Out of these seven different types, five of them are completely recyclable; the company crushes them so they can be made into other products. Two out of the seven categories are plastics that are not disposable, so what Lyrba did was buy a technology from a firm in Utah that fuses these type of plastics. Of this they make platforms. Lyrba is the only company in Mexico that owns this type of technology that can make pallets out of plastics that are not disposable, they then sell these pallets to supermarkets like HEB, and other Mexican retailing brands.
The company was created by a group of engineers looking for innovation, reuse and recycling right after buying the patent in Utah.
The innovation relates to a sense of mission, the mission to take care of our environment and make it better. The company is certified by ISO 14000 that is focused on certifying companies that are focused on the environmental benefits and they check their methods and other processes.
"We have innovation as a product and as a technology, we are dedicated to recycle every type of post industrial or post urban waste. Paper board, wood, scrap, aluminum, everything that is PET plastic, etc. are materials that we recycle and sell as a new product. We use PET to make new packaging etc. Clothing and furniture can also be created with recycling. All plastics that can not be processed are used to create pallets for supermarkets mainly. The pallet was made in 2002-2003 with a technology that was purchased in Utah and was patented," said the owner of the company.
The original idea come about when they started looking for a business that would reduce pollution, and the Park City Utah presented the opportunity to acquire a new technology to process all the waste that could not be recycled. The motivation and purpose to start all of this project was to make products and gain utility while recycling and helping the environment.
“My ideas for the world is to not contaminate and to start by one’s home so maybe in the future everyone can do it”
"This project was created to make people conscious about what they do with their trash and the importance of recycling. Also, we made many campaigns with the objective of being able to make our project bigger and that the company can achieve the doubling of people who are interested in buying the recycled pallets"
“We were just a group of engineers looking for innovation, reducing and recycling”
“The straw is the material that takes the longest to decompose, if a plastic bottle takes around 100 years to disappear, the straw takes about 400 years, so we are making campaigns to reduce the consumption of these types of materials.”
“The unicel, is what disposable plates are made of, when they go to waste, these materials are crushed to make a dough and we re-sell it so that companies can use these product as their raw material”
This business has several impacts. First of all, the business is making profits and it has grown internationally. This innovation of reusing materials to make new products or renewing them has made the business grow because clients care about what their suppliers do and this has caused that the big companies to look to them as one of their main suppliers of some products, like HEB or Sam’s Club with their wood pallets. They are also focused on new technology that has helped them be able to divide certain chemicals and make plastic pallets out of it, something no other business in Mexico has been able to do.
Lyrba has also been able to look out for their society by going hand in hand with education. They have gone to several Mexican schools to talk about the importance of recycling and encouraging the kids to take care of their environment and their country. They also were able to make beautiful and good quality furniture out of their materials and selling them they are indirectly leaving an impression in society that everyone can recycle and make something out of it.
And finally, the greatest impact of this innovation is to the environment. Their processes have helped reduce residuals of plastic, wood, foam, and other kind of materials. Instead of throwing it away and waiting a hundred years for it to degrade, they have been able to reuse those materials and make something new with it. They have made new products like plastic pallets out of materials that take even more time to decompose and are not useful for other kind of products. By recycling wood, they help reduce tree cutting in forests, knowing deforestation is a big problem in the world.
The short-term effects that this business has is in the reduction of trees cut, and they succeeded in reducing pollution because the process they use to recycle the pallets is a sustainable one that does not harm the environment. If we traveled in time, 10 years from today, the long term-effects that this company would have is saving trees and making the quality of life better in our city. Reusing material that takes a long time to degrade will have long-term effects by decreasing the contamination that these materials would have contributed to.
Through the years Lyrba's efforts have been recognized by companies for their impacts and sustainable processes like ESR, ISO14000, and ISO9000.
"We reuse wood to make furniture, every time we reuse the wood we prevent the cutting of a tree or a few trees "
“Big companies like ours, we establish methods that help take care of the environment by reducing energy, taking care of water or with reducing the wastes of the company.”
“We voluntarily assume the commitment to be a company adhering to ethical principles, to ensure quality of life within our company, to link with our community and its development as well as actively participate in the preservation of the environment.”, said the owner of Lyrba.
The company, Lyrba, contributes to the improvement of the adequate preservation of the environment for future generations, and the sustainable development of our planet. It is very important that business firms start to look for ideas to take care of our environment, and that makes Lyrba continue to innovate new ideas that position it among the most important companies in the world.
The main business benefit has been worldwide recognition because of their great innovation. The innovation has helped them grow to being suppliers of bigger companies. Another benefit, and the one that kept the business going, was the profitability of it. It is more than adequately profitable and has substantial income from their products and services.
Lyrba has been growing and gaining recognition, they have the necessary infrastructure to provide services at a national level and support companies in industrial maintenance, cleaning of buildings, integral management and final disposal of hazardous, non-hazardous waste and special handling. This helps their business to continually expand its business and its market.
A great social benefit that Lyrba is creating is working hard on education by showing kids the importance of recycling and taking care of the environment. Another social benefit has been providing their clients with furniture that is made out of their own products.
The greater benefit has been to the environment. The owners looked for a problem in society in which they can help with and they discovered that contamination is a very big problem, especially among industry. That's when these firms call Lyrba and ask for an industrial cleaning process and advice to reduce energy or how to dispose or make use of their residues. This is a way to reduce contamination in the industrial sector. By recycling material and making something out of it Lyrba is helping to reduce the need to cut trees while also reducing the amount of pollutants that industries throw into the water.
Lyrba’s goal is not only to increase their income but to have processes that are sustainable and eco-friendly. Lyrba´s vision goes further than other recycling companies in Latin America, as they try to innovate and make new products out of waste. They are in constant renewal, researching for different ways that their industrial processes can have a positive impact on society and in the environment. Lyrba is concerned about society and they act on these concerns. They give talks at high schools and primary schools about how important it is to recycle, reuse and reduce their daily consumption. Lyrba is aware that the world’s problem of contamination is due to the large amount of over consumption not over population; over consumption is what Lyrba is trying to reduce.
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José Murguia, Engineer
