TOMRA celebrates its 10th anniversary in the Brazilian market
For Carina Arita, Commercial Director of TOMRA Recycling Brazil, “in the last 10 years we have seen the development of a completely new market. The recovery of more recyclables and increasing resource efficiency has been made possible, among others, by the increasing emergence of TOMRA’s state-of-the-art sensor-based sorting solutions.”
Carina Arita recalls the time when TOMRA Recycling started its operations in the Brazilian market: “When we started here, many people had never heard of this and many were also surprised by the capabilities of our technologies. We worked very hard with diverse stakeholders in our segment and today we can see that the concept is well known and discussed. Our projects have also evolved from simple solutions to more complete and more complex ones.”
10 years later
10 years after its arrival in Brazil TOMRA Recycling is now fully established and considered a key player in the domestic market. Proof of this are the machines installed and in operation in the plants. “We really immersed ourselves in the reality of Brazil, in its social, economic and cultural issues and we have developed solutions supporting the market.
These solutions are the most advanced sensor-based sorting technologies, which are often used in combination with manual processes. Based on these solutions, the segment can achieve the efficiencies it requires explains the TOMRA spokesperson.
In this ever more demanding market, the demand for higher quality and purity levels is constantly increasing. TOMRA shows opportunities that enable our customers to achieve higher qualities. Carina Arita stresses that “in addition to our direct action, we also hold an important advisory role. We are often sought out by those seeking to understand the holistic concept of questions of waste management. Some of those seeking advice include industries associations focusing on plastics and looking at the macro view of the waste market, or the reverse situation. Moreover, we often talk to those who are actively developing the Circular Economy and considering the overall picture, including all steps and stakeholders of the entire chain.
Many are looking for partners and are taking action to recover as many materials as possible allowing them to be reintroduced into the value chain and to thus reduce both its environmental impacts and the carbon footprint.”
A well-defined objective for the next 10 years
The Brazilian subsidiary of TOMRA Recycling brings a lot of outstanding features: it holds a strong presence in its market and plays a significant role for its current and future clients. The spokesperson for the Brazilian subsidiary explains: “whilst our competitors work with agents/commercial representatives, TOMRA covers the entire service infrastructure, from the initial conception of the project, to the sales and the post-sale phase. In addition, TOMRA's experienced technical specialists and spare parts availability make our customer’s everyday life easier, because we are able to solve any problems quickly."
For the next 10 years the objective is well-defined. For Carina Arita, “10 years from now the Brazilian subsidiary has the potential to be one of the 5 biggest markets for TOMRA worldwide.”
“Our prime objective is to provide sensor-based sorting solutions using state-of-the-art technologies which are efficient and appropriate for the Brazilian market. These solutions promote the recovery of natural resources that can be recycled, given new lives and used in the production process instead of referring to primary resources. To this end, our short-term vision is to continue our activities in demonstrating that there are already solutions available on the market to enable greater resource recovery. We will continue to analyze the benefits and impacts for society and businesses in order to further develop the Brazilian market enabling it to grow in line with its potential. In the medium and long-term we will invest and work towards becoming the leader in revolutionizing natural resources by creating and supplying sensor-based solutions. The latter optimize the productivity of resources, their acquisition, use, management, recovery, recycling and revitalization,” concludes Carina Arita.
New Director for the Americas
To further reinforce the major role of TOMRA Recycling, a new Director for the Americas has recently been appointed and will work closely with the Brazilian subsidiary to support it in achieving the proposed objectives.
Ty Rhoad has been announced as the new Regional Director for the Americas, replacing Carlos Manchado Atienza. With his significant experience in operations and sales, Rhoad will lead the commercial, sales and project management teams in North and South America. He will also be involved in business development activities for the company’s optical sorting solutions to help clients achieve purity and productivity targets and offer customized solutions in various sectors including waste, plastics and metals.
Whilst at Rehrig he excelled in his sales roles and more recently led a commercial team for the company in North America as commercial director. Rhoad’s role at TOMRA will be to help and improve the capacities and general structure of the current recycling system.
“Over the years I have developed a passion for recycling and for business. What makes this sector so special are the contacts that exceed business relationships and turn into friendships. TOMRA is at the vanguard of the circular economy and is working towards closing the circle. I see a huge growth potential for our leading sorting technologies in this sector in the Americas,” says Rhoad. “Our commercial team has a wide range of sorting technology to offer as well as its experience in applications, which enables TOMRA to work as a partner with its clients from the start to the end of the process. While doing so, TOMRA never loses sight of the objective to achieving specific purity and processing capacity targets. By supporting our clients above and beyond the actual sale, our service team works directly with our clients to ensure the equipment functions with optimized efficiency.”