Kuijpers Autorecycling & Onderdelen

When you drive from Deurne to Liessel via Liesselseweg, you will see the Kuijpers metal recycling company on the right-hand side of the road. We went to take a look at what goes on at this family business, which was founded in 1988 by Louis (69) and Mieke Kuijpers (66) and now employs 23 people. Although Mieke and Louis are still working in the company, their son Mark (43) has been at the helm since 2017.

When Louis was still working as a driver for a metal recycling company in Helmond and saw that his boss drove a Rolls Royce, he thought: ‘I want that too.’ He took the plunge and started his own scrap metal and metals business on Liesselseweg. Mieke: 'The first ten years were certainly not plain sailing.' After that initial phase, things started to take off and the company grew slowly but steadily. Since 2010, there has also been a branch in Beringe, Limburg. Since 2015, they have also specialized in the collection, dismantling, and sale of used car parts in Beringe. But cars can also be taken in at the Deurne location.

Family business

In addition to Mark, Louis, and Mieke, several other family members work for the company. Robin (37), Mark's wife, his two sisters Loes and Ellen, and sister-in-law Cheran form the heart of the business. Robin, Loes (45), Ellen (47), and Cheran (34) work in the office. In addition to them, there are 17 other employees, ranging from drivers to crane operators.

Mark: “It's a great bunch of girls and boys.” Mark has been involved with the company since 1989 and knows it inside out. Mark and Robin, who will have been married for 12½ years in February, have four children. Cas is 11, the twins Dex and Gus are 10, and Jolie is 9. Will they ever play a role in the company? It's too early to say.

Activity

Although private individuals can also deliver their scrap metal to Kuijpers, the company's customers are mainly businesses. From Monday to Saturday morning, there is a lot of activity on Liesselseweg. To give you an idea, eight types of aluminum are sorted, as are eight types of iron (ferrous metal). Ultimately, this amounts to 42 different types of metal.

After sorting and weighing, the value is determined and customers receive the corresponding payment. Kuijpers delivers the sorted metal to smelters, including Tata Steel in IJmuiden. The high-quality metal is recycled in the Netherlands and used in the automotive industry. Between 500 and 600 tons of metal are processed at the Liesselseweg every week.

The lower-quality metal, scrap, goes to Turkey. There it is melted down into structural steel. Every year, millions of tons of scrap find their way to Turkey. This scrap is transported by ship. A ship can carry 45,000 tons, so that's a lot of ships.

Sustainable

For Mark, the focus is on sustainability: “The future must be greener, and our company is moving in that direction.” There are now 800 solar panels on the roofs of the warehouses at both locations. There is an electric cutting machine and the largest transshipment crane is also electric. An electric forklift truck was also recently purchased. Recycling reduces CO2 emissions by 50,000 tons per year.

However, becoming more sustainable also means new challenges. If you want to electrify as much as possible, you also need to have the right facilities. The company already has a transformer and a heavy-duty connection. Nevertheless, more is needed for the energy transition, and this is not easy. Mark: “For this, we are dependent on the government, which has to facilitate things. And this is proving to be not so easy.”

Future

Sustainability is an important action point. In order to keep up with developments, we need our own shredder. Plans for the construction of a shredder are already in place, but still need to be worked out in more detail. Certain permits are also required for this. The big advantage of a shredder is that the metal can be supplied to industry in an even better – purer – form. In fact, this allows you to skip an intermediate step. A nice side effect of metal is that it can be reused indefinitely.

Bicycle batteries are a special branch of the recycling industry. These lithium-ion batteries are extremely flammable. If they catch fire, they cannot be extinguished. Mark: “We are prepared for this as well and have taken the necessary measures.”

Growing

Because the company is still growing, Mark would prefer to move to the industrial park. Mark: “We can no longer expand at our current location. The problem, however, is that the industrial park is not an option at the moment, partly because of the energy supply.”

In order to achieve healthy growth, it is important to keep a close eye on developments. Of course, there is professional literature such as Recycling Magazine and the Schrootkrant. There are also industry organizations such as MRF (Metal Recycling Federation) and ARN (Auto Recycling Netherlands).

In short, Kuijpers Metal and Car Recycling is a company that still has sufficient opportunities to make a sustainable contribution to the reuse of many types of metal and car parts.

Buitengebied in Beeld is an initiative of Stichting Buitengebied Deurne (SBD), which is part of the Ondernemersfonds Deurne. The photos accompanying this article were taken by Hein van Bakel.