Headquartered in Germany and with North American headquarters located in Charlotte, 
NC, BHS-Sonthofen is one of NERC’s recent Advisory Member additions, having signed up in early 2016. But that’s not to say that the manufacturer of advanced crushing machines and other technologies for the recycling industry is a new kid on the corporate block; the was founded in 1607, and what is more was located on the same site as the current company’s German headquarters.
More than 400 years later, BHS-Sonthofen is a leading global manufacturer of equipment for several applications in the recycling industry. The aforementioned crushing machines, for example, not only “selectively reduce the particle size of the input material,” the company states, but “separate composite materials and can clean and shape metals into balls if required” as well. The shredding machines manufactured by BHS, which crush, untangle and disaggregate materials, are applicable to electrical and electronic waste, aluminum, and other recycled materials. And in addition to e-waste applications, its granulator, which sizes feedstock via cutting action, can be applied to tires and other material as well.
Why NERC?
Transforming materials into value is the core message of BHS-Sonthofen and is a perfect partnership with the goals and the ideals of NERC. BHS-Sonthofen is looking forward to supporting the members of NERC as they protect resources locally, nationally, and globally.
Recycling Industry Success for the Long Term
In addition to its individual machines, BHS designs entire recycling plants. “We design and implement complete recycling plants or plant components for treating recyclable materials for a wide variety of applications,” BHS states. The company even offers a modular recycling plant that requires no extensive installation; therefore, it can be put into use almost immediately, and one module features “a complete manual sorting line as well as the automatic separation of ferrous metals.”
Designing high-tech machines that contribute to a global recycling effort is important, and BHS backs it up with its environmental mission. “Our environmental management is aimed at keeping the risk of environmental hazards and pollution as low as possible,” the company states. “The environmental management function is analyzed based on audits by independent, external auditors and then certified.”
During the 2015 GreenTec Awards ceremony in Berlin, BHS received a prize certificate in the Recycling & Resources category, for its pioneering process for the recycling of refrigerators and cooling devices. “Cooling and propellants are thermally and catalytically treated, thereby eliminating their harmful effects on the climate,” according to an account of the awards ceremony.
Of course, financial stability is another important aspect of a sustainable company profile, and BHS-Sonthofen describes itself in these terms: “Our company is financially independent. We regard profitability as a precondition for long-term survival.” The company's 350 employees work in eight locations throughout the world; in addition to recently completing a new headquarters for its American operations in Charlotte, BHS has in recent years opened plants in Australia and Turkey. BHS has also been awarded as one of the most successful small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Germany.
The global business landscape is littered with start-up companies whose promising first steps ended, within a few years, with closure and other forms of corporate demise. But after more than 400 years, BHS-Sonthofen continues to develop a successful business model, while providing crucial solutions to some of the most important areas of the recycling industry.
For more information about BHS-Sonthofen Inc., contact Peter Schirk, Recycling Sales Manager, at peter.schirk@bhs-sonthofen.com , or call (908) 335-2537.