Marc Artozqui, Kuusakoski
Kuusakoski Recycling has installed a new CEO to run its U.S. business as the company evaluates its operations and the evolving e-scrap marketplace.
A representative at Kuusakoski U.S. confirmed in an interview with E-Scrap News this week that Marc Artozqui is replacing Rich Hipp as the company’s CEO and president. Hipp had served in that role since 2014. Hipp is assisting the company in the transition through the end of the year.
Kuusakoski U.S. and its subsidiary Vintage Tech are owned by the Finnish metals company Kuusakoksi Recycling. Acquired by Kuusakoski in 2014, Vintage Tech provides IT asset management and recycling services for a wide range of devices.
“As Kuusakoski U.S. and Vintage Tech move forward and as the global climate changes, the continual need to improve operational efficiency is a goal of Kuusakoski’s,” Lisa Kneller, who manages communications for Kuusakoski U.S. and Vintage Tech, said in an interview.
Kneller confirmed that the leadership changes, which included the departure of additional managers, followed a recent review of U.S. operations by Kuusakoski Recycling.
She said Kuusakoski U.S. and Vintage Tech will “work in sync with Kuusakoski to execute the company’s goal and vision” going forward. Kneller also manages Vintage Tech’s work with manufacturers throughout the country.
Artozqui previously served as the manager of Kuusakoski Glass, a CRT glass-focused subsidiary of the U.S. operation. The company’s CRT glass business, which currently revolves around its treatment and storage of CRT glass in minable landfill cells, has been the subject of industry debate in recent years.
Kneller said the company will continue its core CRT glass business going forward and reiterated it would aim to provide multiple options to its various partners — not simply storage.
“Right now, we are still moving strong with our glass operations and we aren’t looking to change that,” Kneller said. “If anything, we just want to offer our customers a little bit more of a menu-based selection of different processes they can utilize.”
Kneller also noted the company will look to expand its U.S. sourcing of material beyond CRT-containing devices.
“If there’s some opportunity there, we’re going to look at that and extend to a degree the scope of e-scrap and the ability to process at different levels,” Kneller stated.
Kuusakoski and Vintage Tech were recently named in a $14 million federal lawsuit for supplying the ill-fated operation of Closed Loop Refining and Recovery with 48.6 million pounds of CRT material. Kneller declined to comment on the companies’ work with Closed Loop.
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