🔍 Article co-created with Ricardo Xavier de Oliveira, Operations Director at Amtex Corp Colombia (🇨🇴 Colombia), and Augusto Unzaga, host of Keru Podcast.
🎙️ This article was inspired by Episode 31 of Keru Podcast.
Keru Podcast, created by Globalita.io, is a series of conversations (in Spanish) with industrial leaders from Latin America about management, technology and decision-making in complex environments.
How much profitability are you throwing in the trash?
In most industrial plants, the focus is on the final product. What comes out right. What the customer wants. But what is lost is rarely analyzed with the same attention: waste, unvalorized by-products, wasted heat, unseparated materials.
“The most expensive waste isn’t the one that costs a lot to treat. It’s the one you could sell and don’t know it,” says Ricardo Xavier de Oliveira, Colombia.
This statement exposes a paradox in industrial management: every plant is full of small hidden sources of income. But since they are not visible on the control dashboard, they are not explored. In a context of pressure for profitability and sustainability, that is a luxury that can no longer be afforded.
Recovery of industrial by-products: the ignored potential
The concept of industrial by-product recovery is not new. But it is still rarely applied, especially in medium-sized plants or those with legacy operating structures. It is often considered a “plus,” when in reality it can become a new business unit.
What can be recovered?
- Thermal vapors or condensates reusable in other stages of the process.
- Proteins, fibers or solids that are currently dumped into the effluent.
- Chemical by-products that can be inputs for third parties.
- Energy waste that can feed boilers or biodigesters.
The first step is to change perspective: from waste to resource. And that is not achieved with intentions, but with method.
Industrial circular economy: not a trend, but an operating model
The industrial circular economy proposes precisely this shift: designing production systems where all waste is input for another process. Not as green rhetoric, but as operational logic.
In sectors such as food, chemicals or paper, this is already being applied with measurable results: parallel sales, reduced disposal costs, an improved environmental footprint and new contracts with customers who value circularity.
But for it to work, you need a structure that makes it possible to:
- Measure material flows end to end.
- Detect points where value leaks.
- Design separation, drying or treatment processes without affecting the main operation.
- Justify investments with clear business cases.
From hidden loss to business unit: how to recover by-products with industrial logic
Industrial by-product recovery should not be a green idea or a CSR project. It is—more and more—a strategic decision of operational efficiency.
As Ricardo Xavier de Oliveira, Colombia, rightly points out:
“What goes down the drain also has a cost… and often, value.”
To capture that value, companies need to stop seeing waste as externalities and start measuring it for what it is: potential sources of income, efficiency or energy.
But where do you start?
1. Material Flow Analysis: looking beyond the product
The key tool to start this process is Material Flow Analysis (MFA). Its purpose is to trace the complete path of materials, not only of the final product, but also of what is lost, mixed, evaporated or discarded.
Applied to a production line, an MFA makes it possible to:
- Quantify real inputs vs. outputs (including unrecorded losses).
- Visualize at which stage the most scrap or by-product is generated.
- Detect potential secondary inputs (to sell, reuse or exchange).
- Identify energy or thermal inefficiencies.
This method lets you move from “I think we waste” to “we know where and how much.”
2. Recovering with purpose: is it worth investing?
Not every by-product is a business. That is why, after the technical analysis, comes the key step: building a business case with a clear ROI.
This involves answering questions such as:
- What volume is generated per month?
- Does it have market value or can it replace another input?
- What is the cost of processing or separating it?
- What equipment would we need (centrifuges, evaporators, pressing, etc.)?
- How long does it take to recover the investment?
A simple impact–effort matrix can prioritize the most valuable by-products with the lowest technical complexity.
In addition, using the DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control) approach from Six Sigma makes it possible to standardize each stage of the recovery project.
“If you can’t measure it, you can’t justify it. And if you can’t justify it, nobody is going to approve it.”
3. Typical cases where recovery creates immediate value
These are some scenarios where industrial by-product recovery can have an immediate impact:
- Food industries: animal proteins, used oils, vegetable bagasse.
- Chemicals and pharmaceuticals: treatable liquid waste, recoverable solvents, salts.
- Pulp and paper: sludge, fibers, white water.
- Metalworking: metal shavings with lubricants, cutting remnants.
- Plastics: reusable scrap, grinding dust, purges.
In all cases, the focus should not be only environmental, but financial and productive: more income, less cost, less risk.
4. Integrating recovery into daily operations
One of the reasons these initiatives fail is that they are managed as parallel projects. For them to work, they must be integrated into the operational logic.
This involves:
- Including recovery indicators in the plant KPIs.
- Training operators to detect opportunities (with daily Kaizen principles).
- Assigning owners and improvement routines for secondary flows.
- Defining physical and logistical spaces to store, separate or sell by-products.
- Applying Poka Yoke to prevent recoverable materials from being mixed with actual waste.
5. Leveraging the industrial circular economy as a competitive advantage
Beyond direct savings, many companies are using the industrial circular economy as a commercial argument. Some benefits:
- Access to new customers who require green certifications.
- An advantage in public tenders or with large corporations that have ESG policies.
- Reduction of the reported carbon footprint.
- Generation of parallel revenue from by-product sales.
- Lower cost and volume of final disposal.
This approach, in addition to being operational, can become a strategic positioning advantage.
6. What can you apply in your plant tomorrow?
🔹 Make a basic Material Flow map of a key line
Include raw material input, process, scrap, water, steam, energy.
🔹 Prioritize by-products by volume and estimated value
Not everything can be recovered. Choose 1 or 2 with a good impact/effort balance.
🔹 Calculate the monthly cost of treating that waste
And compare it with the cost of investing in a solution to reuse or sell it.
🔹 Check whether another supplier or company could need it as an input
Don’t underestimate the value of waste in other industrial processes.
🔹 Involve the technical and maintenance team
They are the ones who best know the “invisible leaks” that are worth money.
Final reflection
Industrial by-product recovery is not just a good environmental practice. It is a concrete way to increase profitability without growing in volume.
Amtex Corp Colombia’s Ricardo Xavier de Oliveira sums it up clearly:
“You don’t always need to produce more. Sometimes, you just have to stop throwing away what you already produce.”
And you, as a manager:
Are you measuring what goes down the drain? Or are you leaving money in the trash?
🔁 Keru is a podcast created by Globalita.io, where we talk with those who lead Latin American industry from the inside.
Ricardo Xavier de Oliveira is Operations Director at Amtex Corp Colombia, with more than 30 years of experience in the chemical, food and agribusiness industries. A specialist in continuous improvement, quality, process safety and the recovery of industrial by-products, he has led projects in energy efficiency, scrap reduction and OEE improvement. He holds certifications in Lean Six Sigma (Black Belt), ISO auditing and industrial management. His career includes leading plant start-ups, optimizing complex chemical processes and the comprehensive management of the manufacturing chain, always with a focus on sustainable results and operational transformation.
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