One of many first questions Tamara Lundgren typically heard when she launched herself because the CEO of Schnitzer Metal is, “What sort of metal do you make?'”
Based in 1906 by Russian immigrant Sam Schnitzer, the corporate began as a one-person scrap metallic recycler. Over 117 years later, a collection of acquisitions and natural development has made it one of many largest producers and exporters of recycled metallic merchandise in North America, and a worldwide chief within the assortment, processing and sale of metal.
And whereas sure, Lundgren instructed CNBC, the corporate does make metal – among the lowest-carbon emissions metal made on this planet, she famous – it is now the smallest a part of its enterprise.
“The identify Schnitzer Metal simply not actually displays our work,” stated Lundgren, who joined the corporate in 2005 and was elevated to CEO in 2008. “We lastly received to the purpose the place in case you’re introducing your self by explaining what you perform a little little bit of, however not essentially the most, it is most likely time to rebrand.”
Beneath Lundgren’s management, the corporate is now proper in the course of the rising round economic system, working metals recycling services, auto dismantling and retail shops that promote used auto components, and a third-party recycling service for producers, industrials and retailers.
“In as we speak’s setting, the significance of recycling and the significance of recycling metals has reached a degree that did not exist 10 years in the past,” Lundgren stated. “With the transition to low-carbon applied sciences like electrical autos, photo voltaic, wind, and the like, all of these applied sciences require extra metallic than the applied sciences that they are changing.”
An instance of the recycling challenges within the local weather transition is the wind turbine, which is recyclable, from the metal tower to the composite blades, usually 170 ft lengthy, however most finally ends up being thrown away, a waste complete that can attain a cumulative mass of two.2 million metric tons by 2050, in response to a 2021 research.
As this power shift was occurring within the broader economic system, so too have been conversations inside the firm and on the board degree a couple of potential rebrand, Lundgren stated.
That got here to a head in January, whereas Lundgren was at Davos. Schnitzer Metal was named the “Most sustainable firm on this planet” by the sustainable economic system journal Company Knights, however Lundgren stated a lot of the headlines she noticed have been targeted on it being a metal firm.
“I am glad we have been getting that spotlight, however essentially what drove it was all of our recycling exercise,” Lundgren stated. That rapidly sparked a name to her communications crew to bounce the thought of exploring a rebrand, which then led to bigger discussions with specialists to brainstorm after which formal discussions with the board and an inner crew for suggestions.
A number of concepts have been kicked round, together with some bespoke names. However Lundgren stated the identify Radius Recycling resonated with everybody they talked about it to, which referred to as again to what kicked off the entire course of. “The catalyst was having a reputation the place individuals understood what you probably did from the identify,” she stated.
The method was carefully guarded resulting from being a public firm, so Lundgren stated that there have been staff and stakeholders who would solely study of the identify change when it was publicly introduced on July 26. However she was assured that it could resonate throughout the board.
In reality, she stated she anticipated it to significantly resonate among the many ESG investor group. Whereas the corporate has backing from that sector of traders already, Lundgren stated the brand new identify will “open up doorways extra simply to individuals who may in any other case put us in a class that wasn’t of their scope of curiosity.”
Might it additionally deliver damaging suggestions resulting from these ESG ties? Lundgren stated she does not imagine it would, as the corporate has been “about sustainability earlier than sustainability was a phrase. We’re about recycling, and there isn’t any fluff there.”
The rollout of the change to Radius Recycling will take a while, Lundgren famous. Whereas the corporate does not essentially have a product on a shelf or packaging it wants to revamp, it does have loads of heavy equipment that might be repainted or rebranded when that gear rolls over, she stated. Many of the effort will come on the digital aspect of issues, so that won’t require the corporate to speed up any capital spend in the direction of it. Its Nasdaq ticker image will swap in September.
Reflecting on the method, Lundgren stated that one factor she would spotlight for different corporations in the course of a large financial and market transition is simply how a lot of it targeted on listening: listening to what individuals’s first reactions to the corporate have been, what questions they requested, and the place stakeholders felt the corporate’s future was headed.
“It was connecting all of these dots and speaking,” she stated. “And to make this profitable, that communication has to proceed.”
A few of that communication might be chatting with fellow CEOs concerning the companies the corporate can supply in serving to to decrease carbon footprints and environmental influence, which Lundgren hopes turns into simpler by simply listening to the identify of the corporate she leads.
“I believe it is nice to have the ability to take an previous economic system firm and an previous economic system trade and actually place it to the purpose the place we’re an important enterprise and we’re crucial to the success of the round economic system and we’re crucial to this transition to a low-carbon world,” she stated.