Dr. Frederick Von Strasser, the chairman of Central Europe Waste Management in Austria, began his carrier as an industrial engineer in apartheid South Africa in the early 1970s.

 In 1979, he pioneered a process for the clean, safe and economic removal of mercury used for the separation of gold from the ore. Of this, Dr. Von Strasser said in an interview with the South African newspaper, The Rand Daily Mail, “that prior to this method, the system was messy, unclean, expensive and dangerous to the environment.”

"There was no real effort [to improve the process],” said the Austrian business mogul, “as no one could see an economic benefit in doing so. However, we were able to develop a system by which we could clean and dispose of this toxic waste safely. We also were able to reclaim large quantities of mercury and small amounts of gold and platinum, making it both environmentally friendly and profitable.”

Indeed, the process was a money maker and one that the directors of the South African mining giant Deelkraal saw as both politically advantageous and lucrative. In 1982, reports indicate that Dr Von Strasser sold this process for an undisclosed sum and royalties.

In the years to follow, and well before it became fashionable, Dr. Frederick Von Strasser increased his holdings in recycling and environmentally friendly enterprises in Africa and North America. At one stage, the Financial Mail reported that he was asked to bid for the proposed scrapping of 400 kilometers of rail track in Tanzania. He was one of a small group of businessman who was allowed to conducted business with the formerly communist state.

In 1993, Dr. Von Strasser acquired a large stake in Paradigm Industrial Metals, becoming the majority shareholder in 2002. In 2010, the company merged with Vulcan Holdings AG under the new name of Central European Waste Management GmBH, acquiring the assets of several smaller recycling plants in Austria, Germany, Italy and the Czech Republic. With holdings estimated at more than 300 million US dollars, Dr. Von Strasser now serves as the company's Chairman.

Married for 28 years to his wife Ingrid, Von Strasser is the father to four boys. He is an avid sportsman and a concert pianist. His sports activities include skiing, golfing and yachting. He owns one of the largest private yachts in the world: The Maltese Falcon. It is rumored that he bought it from American venture capitalist Tom Perkins.