Podcast „Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“

In the 1980s, civil engineer Franz Josef Schweitzer and his wife Ursula founded the waste disposal company ALBA in Berlin, which would later become the third-largest waste disposal company in the country. In 2022, Schweitzer's sons decide to split up the group: Eric Schweitzer retains the waste collection and recycling of scrap metal under the name ALBA, while Axel Schweitzer takes over the Asian part of the Alba Group and plastics recycling under the name Interzero. The new company employs 2,000 people and has an annual turnover of around one billion euros. Interzero's vision is "A world without waste".

"Environmental protection equals a circular economy," says Sebastiaan Krol, CEO of Interzero Circular Solutions, in the podcast. "We have to learn to protect the environment by reusing things." At the same time, he makes a demand of the economy: "Products must be designed in such a way that they can be separated again." Krol also talks about the relationship between politics and business - and criticizes the scolding of politicians: "Many people, especially from companies, stand up and complain about politics. I think that's inappropriate." He thinks it makes sense to strengthen the circular economy with quotas and laws. "Where social pressure is not there on its own, it's a good idea to pass laws," says Krol. In the interview, he also talks about the ecological sense and nonsense of plastic and paper bags, the arch-enemies of the sorting industry and the long road to true circularity - in the podcast "Alles Neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum" with Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Capital editor Katja Michel.

How can the origin and future of Mittelstand companies be courageously united? What are the challenges facing family businesses and what experiences do they gather in digital transformation? These questions are answered by “Alles neu...? Aus dem Maschinenraum“, the interview podcast for German Mittelstand*. Once a month, Tobias Rappers, Managing Director of Maschinenraum, and Nils Kreimeier, Senior Editor of the business magazine Capital, talk to thought leaders and makers from the heart of the German economy and focus on the personalities and their motivation. *The podcast is in German.

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