Aurubis and TSR establish joint venture for cable recycling

Aurubis AG (Aurubis) and TSR Recycling GmbH & Co. KG (TSR) have signed a joint venture agreement. The future joint venture will unite the cable dismantling activities of Aurubis subsidiary Cablo Metall-Recycling und Handel GmbH, Fehrbellin (Cablo) and those of the TSR site in Gelsenkirchen with the objective of recovering copper granules and plastics.

The joint venture will operate under the name Cablo GmbH. TSR will hold 60 % of the joint venture as a partner and manage the company from an operational perspective. Aurubis AG will hold 40 % of this newly established limited liability company. All of the employees of Aurubis subsidiary Cablo in Fehrbellin, located in the German state of Brandenburg, will be part of the new joint venture as well as cable pre-processing employees of TSR from the site in Gelsenkirchen, located in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia.

Cablo in Fehrbellin has specialized in recycling copper and aluminum cable since 1949 and produces a wide variety of metal granules. The company also fabricates plastic products from cable insulation. The TSR branch in Gelsenkirchen operates two cable granulators and processes various types of cable, likewise recovering different qualities of copper granules.

Sustainably closing the loop is Aurubis’ core business and area of growth. When it comes to cable recycling, we view TSR, one of our long-term suppliers of input materials, as the ideal partner to continue developing the vital recycling business. With the joint venture with TSR, we will boost the volume of input materials and create solutions for the plastic materials that accumulate during recycling, which pose a substantial challenge in the recycling of cable waste,”

explained Roland Harings, CEO of Aurubis AG. He continued, “The separate recycling strengths of both partners will complement each other perfectly in the joint venture: TSR contributes a broad network of branches that collect the materials, as well as its existing logistics and its pre-processing expertise; Aurubis brings along extensive metallurgical processing knowledge for a wide variety of recycling raw materials to recover different metals. Together, we will continue optimizing the recycling processes.

Bernd Fleschenberg, COO of TSR, emphasized, “As a recycling company, we are committed to bringing the circular economy to life. With our joint venture, we now have the opportunity to join our sourcing, production, and marketing know-how in one company to produce high-quality recycling raw materials for reuse in industry, thus closing loops even more effectively along the entire value chain. Considering the objectives of the European Commission’s Green Deal, which focuses on the shift from a linear to a circular economy, our joint venture makes a crucial contribution to enhancing the circular economy – and serves as a role model for other material flows as well.”