Most successful business year for Kladovo-based Delta - Waste collection center expanded, substation and small heating plant built

This year eKapija web portal will again present the Aurea Award for the best investment in 2012 in late March. While waiting to see who the new winners will be, we have paid a visit to the companies whose projects were shortlisted for last year's awards to check how far they have gone with the development of their businesses.

Kladovo-based Delta, which opened the first ship waste oil treatment plant in Serbia in September 2011 as well as a plant for recycling waste oil, oily water, oily cloths and filters, has continued to score one success after another.

After winning the 2012 Aurea Award for the best social utility, that company also received the business quality award Povelja za Kvalitet Poslovanja 2012 and the Business Partner of the Year statue, as well as the highest European award for quality in late 2012. In the opinion of the European Business Association in Oxford, Delta's products and services meet European standards, which is why it won the award for business quality and acquired a license to indicate that on its products over the next five years. Mladen Gencic, the owner and director of Delta, was named the Manager of the Year in 2012 by that same Association from Oxford.

(Mladen Gencic)

- Last year was our most successful business year ever. Our plants operated at full capacity, the annual revenue was at about EUR 25 million, whereas the total value of our exports to EU countries reached EUR 10 million - Mladen Gencic says to eKapija.

In order to improve the waste transport process, Delta has increased its handling capacity by 500 tonnes of waste oil. Aside from expanding its waste collection center, Delta has also built a substation and a small heating plant that satisfies its heating needs. As people at this company explain, the process of equipping the recycling center in line with the principles of environment protection is thus completed.

- Of all the waste oil we receive, 80 percent is used to produce intermediate and final products, while 20 percent of waste is reused in machines processing oily water, so that waste residue from the production process is neglectable because the management system focuses on using raw materials to the full - Gencic points out.

This company from Kladovo is also certified to transport dangerous waste, so it collects used oil and other ship waste from both small and large systems from all over Serbia. Its recycling plant processes used mineral oils and filters oily water and emulsions from ecotoxic materials, but it also produces lubricants and collects oil filters and oily cloths from ships.

- As a result of the recycling process, about 1,000 tonnes of raw materials and the same quantity of intermediate goods are produced annually – our interlocutor stresses and adds that 800 tonnes of waste oil delivered in 2012 were processed into 420 tonnes of other base oils.

Delta's director also underlines that they have not yet started collecting fecal and sanitary water from ships.

- It is necessary to establish a solid legislation stipulating that ships must have fecal tanks if we don't want this waste to keep ending up in our rivers – says Gencic.

Delta has also announced a dock expansion project as well as the construction of a refinery, that is, a system for new services, which require an investment of about EUR 3.6 million. They still wait for the right time to apply for grants for these projects from EU funds.

- We expect a development fund for the Danube region to be formed so we could apply for European investment programs, but if that fails to happen, we will not boost our capacity this year – Mladen Gencic concludes.

By the way, the core activity of this Kladovo-based company is the import, export, storage, trade in and transport of oil and oil derivatives. For that purpose, Delta has its own storage for oil and oil derivatives as well as a dock where ships can fill the tank with fuel and dispose of waste at the same place.