Metall-Konzentrat und Recycling GmbH

Mekon Metall Konzentrat and Recycling GmbH is a small company working in Salzgitter, Germany since April 2008 in the area of recycling of metals. Following the amendment to the TA-Abfall (Technical Instructions on Handling Waste), which became effective in Germany on June 1, 2005, untreated waste may no longer be disposed of on landfill sites. All waste must first be treated in the corresponding mechanical-biological treatment facilities (MBT plants) or in waste incineration plants.

The waste fractions treated in the MBT plants, which consist of highly contaminated multicomponent mixtures of all different types of metals, are perfect for the extraction of recyclable metals. The approximately 60 MBT plants currently operating in Germany extract around 50,000 t of contaminated metal fractions a year from a waste volume of approximately 6.0 million t/a.

Mekon has made it its business to treat these contaminated metal fractions, i.e. to remove the contamination, to extract and separate such metals as aluminum, copper, brass, zinc, stainless steel, iron and other metals and to redirect them back into the recycling process.

In cooperation with the RWTH Rheinish-Westphalian Technical University in Aachen, Mekon conducted a large-scale test in the form of an experimental plant to treat contaminated metal fractions in Salzgitter, Germany, from March 2007 until February 2008. This test was convincing proof of the feasibility of recycling these metals.