Innovation

The company was initially founded in Gothenburg by Sten-Allan Olsson in 1939. He started off by purchasing iron and metal waste with the purpose of reusing the material. However, at the time, recycling was very unusual and therefore, instead of supporting his initiative, people made fun of him. In what others saw waste, Sten-Allan saw opportunities. If only they knew what Sten-Allan's initiative would have led to...

Today, Stena Recycling is the branch leading company in Sweden. The process starts with Stena collecting the waste from its customers which are later converted into raw materials and distributed worldwide to foundries, smelters, and other productions. In addition, Stena does not only focus on recycling, they also offer security consultation, statistics, and internal logistics programs to customers. With an increased interest in environmental issues, it becomes more usual to release sustainability reports. For this reason, Stena Recycling helps businesses to create a sustainability report and note the company’s environmental strengths as well as improvement areas.

The reason for the great success that Stena Recycling brings, both environmentally and socially, is their strive to never settle. The company is still owned by the Olsson family who put a lot of effort and money on research to constantly develop new and innovative recycling solutions.

Inspiration

Joacim Dahlström is the Site manager at the Stena Recycling office in Jönköping, Sweden. He possesses a lot of knowledge and passion for the company's operations. Joacim had for a long time been searching for his place in the labor market, and four years ago, he ended up at Stena Recycling. By showing curiosity and hard work, Joachim quickly climbed the corporate ladder before ending up in his current position.

Joacim himself explains that he thrives in his position. He compares working for Stena Recycling with working for the weapon industry, meaning that for him, it feels better morally doing what he does. When explaining this, he says the following: “I know this will sound extremely cliché, but it is inspiring to be aware that you are contributing to making the world a better place.”

He also mentions that besides the moral aspect of his work, he enjoys the fact that the branch is very educational. For example, he continuously gains new knowledge of chemical elements, materials, and different processes within the recycling industry, which is a few of Joacim's greatest interests.

Overall impact

Stena Recycling makes an incredible impact on their clients. One of many examples of their partners is Stockholms länstrafik (SL). SL provides trains for the underground railway in Stockholm, Sweden. In 2017, Stena Recycling helped SL to recycle 42 trains with a total weight of 101 ton. Within the recycling process, it turned out that 97% of the trains could be recycled and thus the raw material could be used to manufacture new trains for SL. This is an ideal example of how Stena recycles materials, which is a crucial matter for a sustainable future.

Also, Joacim enthusiastically explains how it is not only the environment that can benefit from their actions within the companies. Stena Recycling investigates how companies work with different materials. Afterwards, they can suggest various options to modify their already existing solutions and exchange them for more sustainable materials. Occasionally, other materials may be more efficient to use, both for the environment and for the lifetime of the material. Thus, this can lead to economic benefits for the company and sustainable benefits for the environment.

Business benefit

Thanks to Stena Recycling being one of the first companies in this industry in Sweden, they have been able to inspire companies as well as people for more than 75 years. As time passed by, a lot has happened and new businesses have developed with Stena as their source of inspiration.

Moreover, thanks to Stena's strive to become a market leader, they have been able to employ over 3000 people. They have also expanded from their headquarter in Gothenburg to the rest of Scandinavia and Poland.This has resulted in additional job opportunities as well as a chance for companies in these countries to take part of Stena Recycling's services.

Social and environmental benefit

Having a sustainable and environmentally friendly mindset is something that has become more frequent the last years. In many cases, people are aware of the fact the humans are consuming more than the resources available on our planet per year. In fact, 1,6 times the earth's resources are needed to satisfy the humanity’s consumption today. As a result, it becomes more crucial for businesses around the world to take responsibility for their actions.

Due to the global warming, glaciers are melting at the same time as cities are catching fire. Further, apart from obvious climate issues, the annual consumption of plastic bottles are set to over half a trillion only three years from now. The enormous amount of waste that gets created due to consumption habits like this puts the oceans, coastlines, and landfills in jeopardy.

Simply, recycling benefits environmental issues like this in many ways. Taking advantage of the earth's already existing resources is a good start towards a better world. With this in mind, we have our strongest believes that Stena will continue to help companies all around the world to develop their recycling and realize the importance of their operations. So, we are hopeful that the world will become a greener and more sustainable place in the future.

Interview

Joacim Dahlström, Site manager at Stena Recycling Jönköping