Meltal with almost 30 years of tradition belongs today among the most important European companies which are engaged in purchase, recycling-sorting, and sale of all types of non-ferrous scrap. It all started in 1980, when the owner Rado Snezic founded a private foundry for the production of deoxidised aluminium for steel industry. In 1989, he decided to expand the primary activity to collection, recycling-sorting, and sale of all types of non-ferrous scrap. He was guided by the thought: What others throw away, we shall use and process. In the same year he registered the company Meltal d. o. o. , the name of which is the derivative of the English word MELTing-ALuminium. In 1990 at Slovenja vas near Ptuj, he built an aluminium foundry which could not begin with operations of the planned main activity due to various difficulties. That is why he adapted the activity to the market conditions and began with the collection and recycling-sorting of non-ferrous scrap and resale to other foundries and traders. In addition to the central storage facility in Slovenja vas, two more business units were opened at a later time in Ljubljana and Maribor.