Enviro recruits to help progress Uddevalla project

Gothenburg, Sweden – Scandinavian Enviro Systems (Enviro) has appointed Björn Larsson as head of strategic purchasing and Josefin Wallman as program manager, the company announced 15 Aug.

Larsson, it said, will lead on purchasing in connection with new tire recycling plants, while Wallman will act as project manager for establishing these facilities, including Enviro's planned unit in Uddevalla.

The Uddevalla plant is intended to be the first plant established as part of the joint venture formed between Enviro and Antin Infrastructure Partners (ERJ report).

Larsson has over 25 years’ experience in the automotive and aviation industries as well as the maritime and rail sectors, where he has held senior purchasing roles.

His education includes a degree in international economics and post-graduate training in management and product development.

Wallman joins Enviro from the Elof Hansson Int. trading house, where she has held several leading global roles in project management and business development.

She holds an MSc degree in Chemical Engineering with a degree from the faculty of engineering at Lund University.

Explaining the background to the appointments, Enviro said extensive preparatory work had been ongoing for some time ahead of a definitive investment decision concerning the plant in Uddevalla.

During the summer, it stated, Enviro and Antin will continue to prepare the requisite supporting documentation ahead of the coming decision.

As a leading European infrastructure investor, Antin sets very clear requirements for all decision supporting documentation, said Alf Blomqvist, chairman of Enviro.

The JV partner’s degree of rigour, he added, had resulted in “considerably more extensive preparatory work than we had anticipated.

“This is the reason why we have been unable to start construction in Uddevalla in line with our previous statements.” 

Scaled back from the original plan, the Uddevalla facility is now expected to have capacity to recycle 34.5 kilotonnes per annum of waste tires – around 40% of the annual ELT arisings in Sweden.

Plant construction had been scheduled to start in the first half of 2023, subject to a final investment decision by the 'JV', with operation slated for 2025.

Supported by Michelin, the JV aims to establish plants across Europe by 2030 with a total recycling capacity of up to one million tonnes of end-of-life tires per year.