Plastic sleepers begin gaining room in the rails in the country
Valor Econômico
Wisewood, a plastic wood company, headquartered in Itatiba (SP), is looking for investors to carry out its expansion in the country. First manufacturer of plastic sleepers made from residual waste in industrial scale, the company has a contract closed with the railroad concessionaire MRS Logística and its products are already being tested by Vale. Controlled by businessman Rogério Igel, one of the controlling shareholders of the Ultra group, the company is talking to some investment funds, among them, Stratus. The fund is already a shareholder of another enterprise Igel, Ecosorb, specialized in environmental management.
Founded in 2007 and its first contract closed earlier this year with MRS, Wisewood now bets in the segment of industrial floors, used in large scale by civil construction and also in the manufacture of "decks". Wisewood is specialized in sleepers for replacement. Igel explains the railroad system in the country has nearly 29 thousand kilometers, and between 1.5 million and 2 million sleepers is replaced every year. "Wood sleepers in regions that undergo flooding, such as Santos (SP), for example, need to be replaced every two years because they get rotten."
In its large plant installed in Itatiba, interior of São Paulo, the company receives residual waste, including burrs from disposable diapers, fuels oil and detergent containers, plastic drums and packaging bags to be turned into sleepers. All that material is collected at cooperatives, scrap metal collectors and the very industries. The production of plastic parts is still little, but it has already attracted the interest of large companies.
With earnings projected at R$ 6 million (US$ 3.5 million) for this year, it expects to reach R$ 20 million (US$ 11.8 million) in 2011 and reach R$ 50 million (US$ 29.4 million) in the following year. To pursue the goal, besides betting in new investors and business diversification, Igel bets in new contracts. "We have talked to several railways and we are willing to perform all tests required to place our products on the market". Before installing the plastic sleepers on the rails, the products were tested by the IPT (Institute of Technological Research), PUC-Rio and Unicamp. It is expected that the earnings from the sale of the sleepers of Wisewood lose room in the coming years for industrial floors, which are already under testing.