Photo provided by Erema Group GmbH
Austria-based plastics recycling equipment provider Erema Group GmbH has announced that Georg Wendelin, the company’s co-founder, former managing partner and long-time chair of its supervisory board, died on March 29 at the age of 84.
In 1983, at a time when plastics recycling was in its infancy, Georg Wendelin, together with Helmut Bacher and Helmuth Schulz, laid the cornerstone for the group of companies that, by its own description, is now a global market leader in the plastic recycling technology sector.
In that year, those three founded Erema and built its first plastics recycling machine. “With his pioneering spirit, his business acumen and his respectful and appreciative management style, Georg Wendelin actively shaped the success of the company, attentively and proudly keeping track of how plastics recycling went from being a niche to a trend and how the Erema Group became the driving force behind the circular economy,” states the firm.
In 2019, Wendelin was awarded the Golden Decoration of the Republic of Austria in recognition of his work.
“We will greatly miss Georg Wendelin as a personality who was closely associated with us for all these years,” says Manfred Hackl, CEO of Erema Group and himself a long-time friend of Wendelin’s. “Because of his humanity, he was a highly respected figure of leadership on all sides,” adds Hackl.
States the company, “Georg’s sudden death fills everyone throughout the Erema Group with great sadness, but also with gratitude for his work, his trust and his unwavering involvement in the Erema Group.”