Environmental trade fair closes to great acclaim
Exhibitors highlight strong international interest and high visitor quality
Satisfied faces all around at the close of the Entsorga-Enteco 2006 trade fair. From 24 to 27 October 2006, 910 exhibitors from 28 countries presented their environmental products and services to a specialist international public. Exhibitors and visitors were enthusiastic about the offers on display and the atmosphere in the new “Nordhallen” buildings at “Koelnmesse”, Cologne’s trade-fair grounds. With foreign participation among exhibitors of about 25 per cent (873 exhibitors and 37 additionally represented companies), the event was a reflection of the global markets. Including estimates for the last day of the trade fair, around 43,000 visi-tors (2003: 48,366) from 106 countries (2003: 77) familiarized themselves with the industry’s trends and innovations. Despite the loss of the public day that was conducted in 2003, it was an outstanding result. Responsible for this was the clear increase in foreign visitors , up to 30 per cent (2003: 21 per cent). Growth from East and Southern Europe, South America, Thailand and Japan was especially high. The environmental trade fair was also able to show a nice increase with regard to rented space; around six per cent more was occupied this year than in 2003.
“Together with our partners, the BDE and the VDMA, we are very satisfied with the success of this event. We have once again shown that the German envi-ronmental industry is taking a pioneering position internationally. Other coun-tries have recognized that Cologne is the pivot around which environmental technology and services revolve. This is where our strength lies and a huge po-tential for the topic of the future of environmental protection,” said Wolfgang Kranz, Executive Vice President of Koelnmesse GmbH.
Organizers and non-material sponsor draw positive balance from envi-ronmental trade fair
“We are extremely happy with the trade fair. The interest in the solutions which German disposal and water companies are offering is becoming more and more international. The guiding principle behind this year’s Entsorga-Enteco was recovering treasures from waste, illustrating how increasing scar-city of raw materials is constantly adding to the importance of the derivative raw materials industry,” said Dr. Stephan Harmening, Chief Executive of the German Waste Disposal Industry (BDE), which in conjunction with Koelnmesse organized the Entsorga-Enteco through Entsorga gGmbH. “The crush of visitors was very large – the stands of our member companies and the BDE were very full on every day. That’s how a trade fair should be! I have the impression that not only contacts were made, but business was concluded here too. The visit by German Environment Minister Sigmar Gabriel to the BDE stand on Wednes-day evening was a special climax. In a discussion moderated by Klaus Bresser he talked to European waste disposal companies about the perspectives of the European waste policy,” continued Harmening.
The German Engineering Federation VDMA, the non-material sponsor of the trade fair, also recorded a successful trade fair: “Above and beyond the classic waste disposal and the associated logistics, the Entsorga-Enteco trade fair has clearly developed towards environmental technology. Interesting contacts were made by companies in the air pollution control sector with their range of waste and recycling technologies and systems. Other areas of industrial use made very promising inroads too, and the companies that belong to the VDMA’s Air Pollution Control section see room for development here,” said Dr. Gutmann Habig, head of the federation’s Thermal Process and Waste Technology group. The VDMA member companies from the Waste and Recycling Technology section were also exceedingly satisfied. All sections of Machine and Plant Con-struction were able to note very good contacts, concrete queries and sometimes even conclusions. It proved that the growth of the past will continue into the future. “The exhibitors recorded very pleasing numbers of foreign visitors, particularly from the strongly developing economic regions. They also positively rated the quality of customer contacts. Exhibitors also praised the concrete project discussions based on a positive climate of investment and expect good business following the trade fair. Also our fringe programme points, in particular the VDMA Practice Days Biomass Processing, where the performance ability of environmental technology was demonstrated in an impressive way to an estimated 3,000 visitors, and the International Pellet Forum, which dealt with the opportunities and possibilities of the pellet market, were warmly received,” Habig continued.
Trend moves away from recycling to resource industry
The exhibits on show at Entsorga-Enteco 2006 clearly demonstrated that the waste and disposal industry is treading wholly new paths towards a complex resource industry. More and more disposal companies are becoming suppliers, securing raw material requirements for the economic cycle through recycling and supplying derivative raw materials from waste. The background to this development is, on the one hand, the ban on dumping untreated waste and the consistently rising cost of primary raw materials and fossil fuels such as oil und gas on the other. More processes than ever showcased at the trade fair focused on the recycling of waste into energy. Their technological development is distinguished by efforts to continuously raise the yield of electricity and heat through the use of techniques to recover and utilize waste heat. Methods used in fermenting biomass also showed a marked upswing. The resultant biogas is also used to generate electricity and heat. The special advantage of this type of power generation is that it is CO2-neutral and thus contributes to climate pro-tection.
Methods salvaging wood were also strongly in evidence. They ranged from crushing of forest remains and plywood, to removal of foreign bodies and pressing into briquettes or pellets, to utilization as a source of energy in wood-burning power stations. The continued advances in methods to recover recy-clable materials from waste were particularly prominent. There is hardly a material of worth that cannot be recovered in its pure state through highly developed optical, electromagnetic, ballistic or mechanical separation methods. Valuable raw materials such as copper, aluminium, bronze and plastics can thus be recovered to a stable quality and reintroduced into the economic cycle.
Hands-on fringe programme reflected industry topics
Entsorga-Enteco 2006 offered the most comprehensive and varied fringe pro-gramme so far in the trade fair’s history. The top-flight specialists events were all very well attended. The offering ranged from public congresses, symposia and seminars to special shows on a wide variety of environmental topics. Nu-merous visitors used this information and communication platform as a perfect venue to augment their trade fair visit.
What the exhibitors said about Entsorga-Enteco 2006
- Claudia Schaue, Head of Marketing at FAUN Expotec GmbH: “We are very happy with the way the trade fair went. All the customers we invited actually came, and there was a lot of interest in our products. The new halls have a great atmosphere.”
- Carlo Baggi, Business Development Manager Sales Foreign Markets at HSM Pressen GmbH & Co KG: “Entsorga-Enteco went down great with us! It was the most successful trade fair we’ve ever had. We concluded a raft of deals and the visitors who came to our stand were of a very high standard.”
- Jörg Mueller, press officer at Lobbe Germany GmbH & Co KG: “Koelnmesse has gained in attraction with the new halls – and that benefits the exhibitors. We are very satisfied.”
- Peter Funke, General Manager of Doppstadt Umwelttechnik GmbH & Co KG: “There was an excellent specialist public at the trade fair. Especially as regards its international flavour, Koelnmesse has done its homework. We are completely satisfied.”
- Nina Steffenhagen, Communications Manager at Sulo GmbH: “Our stand was very well visited. We held great discussions and will certainly be here again next time. A very successful appearance for us!”
- Egbert Tölle, on the Board of Directors of REMONDIS AG & Co. KG: “We are very happy with how the trade fair went and used the opportunity to form new contacts and keep up with old ones. Especially for our activities in the Rhineland, Entsorga-Enteco is highly significant.”
- Martina Schmidt, Head of Sales Office at VECOPLAN Maschinenfabrik GmbH & Co. KG: “We had a very high frequency at our stand. The visitors came from all over the world – from Cyprus to Belgium, they were all represented.”
- Ludwig Sahm, Sales Director of SSI Schäfer / Fritz Schäfer GmbH: “Entsorga-Enteco was a great success for us. The specialist visitors were highly competent and the number of foreign visitors, especially from Eastern Europe, was high.“
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