HISTORY

After STEINERT Latinoamericana’s premises were the victim of a devastating fire, the new office and production building was officially opened in the late summer of 2023. STEINERT is now based in Pedro Leopoldo, also in the state of Minas Gerais, not far from Belo Horizonte. The new site is home to even bigger offices as well as a dedicated building for production. It also has its own test centre, where sorting tests for the mining sector make up the vast majority of the work.

On 22 September 2020, STEINERT again demonstrated the way forward by opening its new Test and Development Center in Pulheim, just 7km from the company’s headquarters in Cologne. Covering the size of a football pitch, there is now three times as much space for testing and development. 35 highly qualified members of staff work on 3 separate sorting lines for metal recycling, waste recycling and mining, delivering technical innovations and test procedures based on magnetic separators and sensor-based sorting technology, such as X-ray transmission, X-ray fluorescence, near-infrared and LIBS.

By launching the UniSort BlackEye, STEINERT once again demonstrates its pioneering spirit in the development of leading technologies. The sensor-based sorting system does not only separate plastics by colour, but also by polymer class (PE, PP, PVC and styrene). The UniSort BlackEye can therefore correctly separate black plastics by plastic type. One feature of particular interest in terms of rates of recycling is the ability to distinguish between PE and PP. Since most packaging comprises PE and PP, they can be accurately captured in sorting facilities. A large proportion of black polyolefins is also used in the automotive sector.

By founding STEINERT Latinoamericana, STEINERT establishes a third subsidiary within the network of affiliated companies and demonstrates its commitment to Central and South America. Locating the new company close to customers and market activities enables excellent service and support in Central and South America too. Based in the Castelo district of Belo Horizonte in Minas Gerais, STEINERT is strategically positioned in a zone of importance to the mining industry. Going forward, the mining and recycling industries will be able to benefit from services, commissioning work, maintenance and training courses from colleagues in their own country.

Huge demand on the North American market resulted in the founding of STEINERT US Ltd. in St. Petersburg, Florida. North American customers are quickly able to benefit from the well-developed infrastructure. The local team now delivers service and maintenance work on site much faster and more directly. STEINERT US also produces individual magnetic separators itself on site. The market responds to these moves by placing even more orders. Close proximity to customers and the great service team have proven to be huge factors for success in the USA.

The new millennium starts with a new generation and expansion of research and development. The next few years will not only see new but also unique sorting systems appear on the market. New subsidiaries and sales partnerships also reinforce STEINERT’s global presence. 

Advances made in sensors and data processing enable the development of colour sorting systems and the STEINERT ISS® induction sorting system. Both technologies aim to further increase yield and purity in metal recycling. In parallel to this, new markets open up in RDF treatment, wood treatment and plastic recycling.

STEINERT presents the first eccentric non-ferrous metals separator. This eddy current separator (also known as ECS or eddy) is used to recover non-ferrous metals, such as aluminium, copper or brass. The patented, eccentric pole system ensures that the magnetic field's influence is only at its highest at the moment of separation and a field is not generated at other points in the belt drum. Today, non-ferrous metals separators form the commercial basis of any recycling, and more than 5000 of STEINERT’s separators alone are deployed worldwide in sorting and processing facilities.

Following years of reconstruction, STEINERT quickly writes the next chapter of its success story. In 1963, the company presents the prototype of a new range of lifting magnets on its own stand at a trade fair in Hanover. Benefits include its low weight, greater magnetic power and low price. At the same time, waste treatment and recycling gain in importance. Dwindling resources, calls for environmental protection and an explosion in costs on the raw materials market make new technologies necessary. STEINERT rises to these challenges with immense passion and develops new products.

In 1931, Julius Christian Buchholz buys the company. The birth of the Metalloxyd holding company contributes to the expansion of the market position. STEINERT and the Metalloxyd holding company are a perfect match for one another. One of the first major results of the merger is the breakthrough in anodic oxidation. During the Second World War, most of the premises in Cologne are destroyed. But management and the workforce reconstruct the company and extend the product range. STEINERT becomes established on the international market.

Ferdinand Steinert founds “Ferdinand STEINERT Elektromagnetische Aufbereitungsanlagen” in Cologne. The new company initially works in small structures, but the market for the use of separation magnets is huge. Although the phenomenon of magnetism has been known since the 11th century, it has hardly been utilised commercially to date. The steel industry is one of the first customers. The founder is also a design engineer and develops magnets, which are used to recover iron from steel slag and steel waste, and from waste in foundries and iron works.