[PEOPLE]

Marathon Equipment Co., Vernon, Ala., has announced the addition of Joe Szany as Director of Horizontal Baling Systems Sales. Szany’s primary job at Marathon will be to develop the next generation of baling equipment based on market trends and needs.

"My job is to respond to the market by listening to the customer," Szany says. "I look forward to helping Marathon become the name people think of when they think of the baling industry leader."

Marathon manufactures a range of recycling products, including two-ram balers, open-end auto-ties, closed-end balers and balers for specific applications and budgets. One of Szany’s responsibilities will be to tie in Marathon’s ancillary products, such as conveyor systems, with the horizontal baler line.

Szany is a longtime and involved member in several trade associations, including WASTEC, PSI, ISRI and NSWMA.

Fred Nijkerk and Wijnand Dalmijn, co-authors of the Handbook of Recycling Techniques, have been honored as co-recipients of the first Dutch Recycling Award.

Nijkerk—a long-time scrap industry executive, association official and writer—authored the text of the 1995 book, which has been translated into several languages and is sold in more than 80 nations.

He entered the family scrap business after graduating from college, eventually working with Royal Dutch Shell to set up a metals recycling division for its then subsidiary, Billiton International Metals. Nijkerk has also served as president of the Dutch Recycling Federation and has contributed articles to publications such as Recycling International and Magazine Recycling Benelux.

Dalmijn, a professor at the Technical University of Delft in the Netherlands, provided technical sketches for the book and offered expertise on mechanical separation techniques.

The award was presented to the two co-authors at the Amsterdam RAI Congress Centre by Dr. van Geel, the Netherlands Minister of the Environment.

The government official praised the recipients for putting together a technical book that has sold 7,000 copies and has become "a standard work which is read in the whole world."