Mark Wayne is president of The Amlon Group, a New York City-based recycler and environmental services group with facilities in Texas and Louisiana. A holder of a bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurial business and strategic management from the University of North Texas, Wayne has been in the recycling industry since 2000.
Wayne started his career in the warehouse at Metallic Industries that later merged with Yonack Iron & Metal and then sold to Commercial Metals Co. He then spent time as a plant manager at Commercial Metals Co. He worked in the C-suite at precious metals refiner Elemetal during the 2010s. He has been with Amlon since 2012.
Wayne recently answered Scrap News’ questions about his company, the industry, and what’s next in continuous innovation to provide renewable materials for manufacturing
How has recycling changed during your time at The Amlon Group?
Over the past 10 years we have refined and improved our recycling and we are always on a path of continuous improvement. For years we have reclaimed high quality materials for use in manufacturing. Often our appeal convinced a limited audience. Now our customers represent entire industries that seek out the opportunity to be better stewards of the environment.
How are national and international regulations affecting Amlon, and how are you responding?
Throughout our company’s history we managed and recycled metal-bearing materials that contained dangerous chemicals. As a result, conducting business while adhering to regulatory requirements has always been an integral part of The Amlon Group. To maintain our proactive edge, over the last few years we have acquired multiple facilities to manage the material we recover. We found this to be necessary to provide our customers with innovative services that keep up to our exacting standards. Our logistics team members responsible for transporting our materials domestically and internationally are fully certified and trained in regulatory compliance to meet our customers’ needs. Our team is further able to ensure that our international customers comply with their local and national environmental laws.
It’s been just about a year since Heartwood Partners LLC partnered with The Amlon Group. What kind of growth resulted from the investment?
Heartwood has been a wonderful partner over the past year. They have provided additional growth capital where needed and assisted with a close analysis of operational efficiencies and best practices for our organization. Their team has helped us explore our business in a more critical way, better define who we are, and where we can provide the best value proposition. Throughout the year we have evaluated several acquisition opportunities, as well as organic growth options, and are excited to see some of those come to fruition.
Early on in our partnership we completed the purchase of our new East Texas campus, including fully equipped office spaces, a warehouse, and a 10-day storage facility, just down the road from our Alpha Omega Recycling plant in Longview, Texas. This campus provides The Amlon Group with the additional capacity to expand its services throughout our region.
In June of this year, we also completed the acquisition of the new Amlon Port Allen location in Louisiana, which will help expand our capacity and capabilities in catalyst and oil-bearing materials. Adding this facility provides us with another means to service expanded sectors and continue to produce high quality renewable sustainable materials.
Where does Amlon fit into the greater sustainability challenge?
At The Amlon Group our vision is to be a sustainability leader in our industry; it is at the core of who we are. Customers look to us to source high quality renewable materials, and we are uniquely positioned to advance our customers’ sustainability goals by treating, recycling, and repurposing. Our team is positioned to solve our customers most pressing sustainability challenges because of their diverse backgrounds and experience.
Our team has collective experience in materials sourcing and trading, fuel blending, and a wide range of environmental services. We return high quality renewable sustainable materials in the smelting, refining, and chemical manufacturing industries.
What are your goals for The Amlon Group for the future?
The Amlon Group is looking to continue growth through the right mix of organic and strategic acquisitions. This path will allow us to enhance our capabilities and offer a broader set of high quality renewable sustainable materials to our customers. We are working to build a world class environmental services company to manage the needs of global industries as we all push together toward the common goal of providing consumers with the services they want while safeguarding our environment for future generations.
Photos courtesy of The Amlon Group.
Mark Wayne is president of The Amlon Group, a New York City-based recycler and environmental...