I’m a scrap dealer. Some people say I’m different, but different in a good way. I don’t know if they’re right, but I do have a lot of ideas. Mostly when I’m running. Like this morning. A cold November morning at half-past five, on a Saturday. I get a surprise in the dark on the cycle track, when suddenly another person appears in the opposite direction.
I wonder if this person also runs around thinking in the dark when everyone else is asleep. I move on, never stopping, keeping time. And then they come, the ideas. First, they sneak up on me and then ideas with a bit more impact follow.
Järnmalmer has been nominated at Återvinningsgalan (the Recycling Gala) in the category Metal Recyclers/Scrap Dealers of the Year in Sweden. It is a great honour for a machine of talented people, dedicated, self-thinking, willing. I have seen the company grow and develop for a long time. I’m a part of that machine that steams on. To be a part and follow the people behind it, follow their families, interests, it’s amazing. The years pass and we will soon be almost 70 years-old.
Our long-term plan has been to constantly improve. Be more responsive, transparent and flexible. We have put our ear to the ground, and you don’t need to have your ear that close, to discover that the environmental threat is getting nearer, like a tornado on the horizon. Significant changes in the weather create death and destruction. Glaciers melt. It has even gone so far that in some countries, water bombing has been used in cities so people can breathe fresh air. Or to be honest, enough clean air to survive.
We were the first company in Sweden to report on CO2 emissions arising from our recycling of our customer’s material, where the customer has the opportunity to climate-compensate 100% of the emissions. “Together towards zero waste”. We have been noticed in many ways, in the daily press and industry newspapers. We have lectured at universities and held lectures for recycling companies and environmentalists. But we have forgotten something important.
My wife usually says that our children are our employers. She’s very wise. If you really think about what that means then you get another understanding of life and another insight. That’s exactly what I was thinking about that morning and then everything became clear. That’s what we’re going to do. We will create a recycling scene for children and young people. For our employers. Those are the people we will influence; it’s for them we will create an understanding of what is happening. These are the people who will take over the world. And my inner voice becomes like Winston Churchill’s when he spoke holding his cigar: ”We shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills, we shall never surrender”.
I take in a deep breath. And then the decision has been made. In the dark on the cycle track. By a scrap dealer who could be seen as different. We will start a children’s environmental gala. Obviously.
Mattias Malmer, CEO
