This article is compiled based on an exclusive interview with Walid, drawing from his personal experiences. Only the logic of expression has been optimized, and no key information has been fabricated.
I am Walid, responsible for project operations at an aluminum enterprise in the Middle East. Our company has been producing aluminum and building materials for 45 years, with operations spanning the Middle East, Europe, and North America, and has accumulated considerable reputation in the industry. In recent years, the global emphasis on green development, coupled with the scarcity of bauxite resources and high energy consumption in primary aluminum production, has made us realize that recycling of waste aluminum is essential if we want to gain a foothold in the global market. This approach not only meets environmental requirements but also reduces raw material costs. This is the core intention behind our launch of the waste aluminum recycling project.
By the end of 2023, we officially finalized the recycling project for 10,000 tons of waste aluminum materials per year, with plans to commence production in early 2025. Before the project was launched, our biggest headache was looking for suppliers—we didn't just need a single piece of equipment, but a partner who could provide full-process services from scheme design, equipment selection, production, installation and commissioning, to post-operation maintenance. Moreover, they must have practical experience in major projects, as this project is directly related to our subsequent cost control and market competitiveness.
We have consulted many well-known suppliers globally, and the core dispute focused on the selection of shredding equipment: should we choose hammer crusher or shear shredder? We have tested many devices on site and found that traditional hammer crushers not only consume high energy, but also tend to jam when processing whole bags of materials, resulting in uneven particle size of the output material, which makes subsequent sorting particularly troublesome and increases a lot of labor costs. After that, we got in touch with GEP ECOTECH. Their technical team did not blindly promote equipment. Instead, they first deeply understood our material types—we have aluminum foils, aluminum plates, cans, and packaged materials on site, with particularly complex forms. At the same time, considering our annual production capacity requirement of 10,000 tons, they provided the solution of shear shredder.
The business manager of GEP ECOTECH calculated for us: Shear shredding has significantly lower energy consumption per unit of production capacity compared to hammer crushing, and it can directly process whole-pack materials without prior disassembly. The output specifications are neat, which can greatly enhance the sorting efficiency at the backend, and over the long term, it can save considerable operational costs. What impressed us even more is that they also proposed a supporting impurity removal and sorting solution tailored to the needs of secondary aluminum recycling and utilization, which was exactly what we urgently needed at that time. However, having a plan alone is not enough. To confirm GEP ECOTECH's capabilities, I specially led our company's chief technical engineer to visit their factory for an factory inspection.
What we saw and heard during the factory inspection completely dispelled our concerns. The production base of GEP ECOTECH is exceptionally well-regulated, with a clean and tidy factory area and complete production equipment. From the processing of core components to the assembly of complete machines, every link is strictly controlled, showing their dedication to equipment production. More importantly, we saw their past cases of major overseas waste aluminum recycling projects, including projects with similar material types to ours, demonstrating solid technical accumulation and practical experience. Furthermore, they can accurately understand our concept of "Highest Quality for all Applications". They are not just engaged in superficial cooperation, but truly consider issues from our perspective, which is also the key to our final decision to collaborate with GEP ECOTECH.
During the cooperation process, it is inevitable to encounter some unexpected situations, and GEP ECOTECH's response speed and problem-solving ability left a deep impression on us. When the project progressed to the installation stage, we urgently needed professional personnel to provide on-site guidance. However, at that time, GEP ECOTECH's after-sales personnel were particularly busy with their schedules, and online guidance simply could not solve the complex on-site problems—such as equipment connection, adaptation and debugging of different materials. Any slight deviation would affect the subsequent production launch. After we reported the situation to GEP ECOTECH, they did not make any excuses and coordinated personnel on the same day. They sent a professional after-sales team to the site as quickly as possible, followed up the installation and debugging process throughout, communicated with our technical staff daily about the progress, and promptly solved all the problems encountered. Ultimately, they ensured that the project was not delayed and entered the trial production stage on time.
In addition, the customized services provided by GEP ECOTECH exceeded our expectations. Our waste aluminum comes in complex forms, with thin and light aluminum foil being prone to shattering and thick and heavy profiles being difficult to shred. Ordinary equipment simply cannot accommodate both. The requirements for discharge size and screening efficiency are also very high, directly affecting the purity of the recycled material. GEP ECOTECH's technical team specially customized the cutting chamber and cutters for us, and optimized the equipment parameters to solve the adaptation challenges of different materials. After debugging, whether the materials are thin and light aluminum foils, thick and heavy profiles, or packaged materials, they can all be processed efficiently without frequent parameter adjustments, greatly reducing the workload of our operators.
In early 2025, the project was successfully put into operation, and the operational results went beyond our expectations. The complete set of waste aluminum recycling system provided by GEP ECOTECH features a scientifically designed and reasonable process. After multiple stages of impurity removal and sorting, qualified materials within 50mm in size achieve a purity level that fully meets the high standards for remelting in the furnace, eliminating concerns about impurities affecting product quality. Since its commissioning, our waste utilization rate has significantly increased, raw material production costs have noticeably decreased, and overall operational efficiency has improved by 20%-30%. This has greatly assisted us in controlling costs and maintaining our global market share.
For a long-established enterprise like ours, the core of cooperation lies in "reliability"—reliable equipment, reliable service, and reliable team. GEP ECOTECH has achieved this. In the future, we will not consider changing suppliers when expanding our scale. We only hope to continue to cooperate well with GEP ECOTECH to make our waste aluminum recycling project more stable and efficient. Leveraging their technological advantages, we can further reduce costs and improve efficiency, allowing us to maintain our competitiveness in the global aluminum market. This is enough.
