The start-up ScrapBees, known under the consumer brand SchrottBienen, offers a contemporary alternative to traditional scrap trading with its urban mining approach.

The materials are evaluated, weighed, and digitally documented directly on-site – creating a virtual scrap yard with complete transparency. This traceability gives steel mills the assurance that their raw materials come from controlled and resource-conserving cycles – an essential building block for the transformation toward Green Steel. To ensure the highest quality standards and reliability, the SchrottBienen dismantle and sort the material as purely as possible and ensure rapid turnover. All collections are carried out with their own truck fleet and permanent employees as drivers.

Backbone of the Energy Transition: Relief for Skilled Workers on Construction Sites

On-demand services are rapidly gaining importance – also in the B2B segment. For their customer group, the ScrapBees focus on the SHK sector (sanitary, heating, and air conditioning industry) and cooperate with leading industry companies such as Vaillant, the GC Group, and Brötje. The trades face the mammoth task of replacing at least 14 million outdated heating systems with efficient systems in the coming years as part of the energy transition. The shortage of skilled workers complicates the task, as it requires not only technical skills but also smooth logistics and sufficient capacity.

This is where the ScrapBees come into play: On construction sites, the teams dismantle old heating systems, help with carrying, bring new systems into buildings, and take care of packaging waste. This provides noticeable relief for installers and allows them to concentrate on installation and commissioning.

The mobile scrap service increases productivity on construction sites, as qualified specialists no longer have to spend their time on scrap metal transportation. At the same time, the SchrottBienen efficiently tap these urban mines with full transparency. Additionally, ScrapBees provides digital proof of proper disposal, and customers receive prompt credit for valuable materials.

This offering convinces more and more companies. Every month, the SchrottBienen collect more than 1,000 heating systems from construction sites and bring them to their total of 290 recycling partners nationwide.

“By 2030, we want to serve one million construction sites and establish ourselves as the backbone of the energy transition,” says Thilo Hamm, co-founder of ScrapBees. “Furthermore, we are already opening up new industries with initial pilot projects, such as the elevator industry.”

ScrapBees management team, Thilo Hamm, Sebastian Kopsan, Florian Kriependorf (from left to right), (Source: ScrapBees)

ScrapBees management team, Thilo Hamm, Sebastian Kopsan, Florian Kriependorf (from left to right), (Source: ScrapBees)

Steel in the Cycle – From Scrap to Green Steel

Besides skilled trades, the steel industry also faces enormous challenges, as it is one of the most emission-intensive industries worldwide. Seven to eleven percent of all CO2 emissions are attributable to energy-intensive production in gigantic blast furnaces. Accordingly, the importance of high-quality recycling streams is growing: The production of steel from fully recycled scrap causes significantly less CO2 compared to conventional processes.

ScrapBees ensures that metal scrap is collected and secured. For the recycling cycle, it is important that quantities between 50 and 500 kilograms are also returned to the cycle, thus conserving primary raw materials.

“Metal recycling is not a trend, but a necessity. Together with the steel trade, we want to advance the circular economy and shape a sustainable future,” says Florian Kriependorf, co-founder of ScrapBees.

The credo of efficiently returning raw materials to the cycle is advancing worldwide. Opportunities are also opening up across country and ocean borders, as companies increasingly demand and offer products with high recycling content. Accordingly, the growth potential of the entire industry is enormous – from construction sites to heavy industry.