The Redooo digital platform helps connect customers with waste and recycling service providers

REMONDIS is also leveraging new opportunities in Australia where it has launched the Redooo digital platform after eight months of development work. The platform, which has previously been rolled out in Germany and Turkey, recently went online in Brisbane and will soon expand to cover all of Australia.

Redooo helps customers and businesses to find the right certified waste and recycling service provider. With a network of over 1,500 service providers, its portfolio includes wheelie bins, front lift bins, hooklifts, skips and even pumping services and ranges from 120L wheelie bins all the way up to 40 m³ roll on/off containers. Redooo allows customers to arrange services and pay online with the option of arranging one-off or regular collections. Learn more about Redooo by visiting this website.

A flow diagram shows how this circular economy concept works

REMONDIS is closing the loop and capitalising on opportunities to implement the circular economy. One example in the area where recycling and environmentally friendly transport intersect can be found at our head office in Lünen where we recently hooked up the world’s largest second-use battery storage unit. This 13 MWh project - a joint venture with Daimler AG, The Mobility House AG and GETEC - will allow 1,000 battery systems from second-generation electric drive vehicles to be incorporated into a stationary storage unit. This flagship initiative will help to improve resource efficiency; by being added to the stationary unit, batteries no longer suitable for use in electric cars will have their lives extended for at least another decade and help to even out fluctuations in the power grid. Once the batteries finally reach the end of their working life, REMONDIS will recycle them, reclaiming valuable raw materials that can be fed back into production cycles.

The world's largest second-use battery storage unit

The wastewater treatment plant in Kullar

It has been a busy few months for REMONDIS Aqua, winning two new contracts to provide world-class water treatment services. The first in the Kocaeli region of Turkey will see REMONDIS Aqua operate two advanced biological wastewater treatment plants. The plants in Kullar and Plajyolu each have a designed daily treatment capacity of more than 70,000 m³ and will remove carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus from wastewater as well as dewater sludge. The site in Kullar was completed in 2018 and is the newest wastewater treatment plant in the Kocaeli region.

Wastewater treatment in progress in Kullar

Sophisticated wastewater treatment at Juncà

In Spain, REMONDIS Aqua has been contracted to build a wastewater treatment plant and operate it over a 10-year period for Juncà, a maker of gelatins and collagen hydrolysate for the food and pharmaceutical industry. Juncà plans to increase its output by 17% in the next two years, necessitating a fresh solution for its wastewater treatment systems. Within the parameters of this contract, REMONDIS Aqua will remodel and improve the existing facility, boosting its capacity from 540 m³ to 1,300 m³ per day. Wastewater treated by the plant will also drive steam boilers at the site’s cogeneration plant. The contract serves as an important reference example of an integral industry project within the food industry. The animal fats that Juncà generates as by-products are delivered to SARIA, one of four divisions within the family-run RETHMANN Group and a leading specialist in the recycling of animal, vegetable and agricultural waste products, for treatment.

The Whirlpool factory in Manisa, Turkey. Credit: Whirlpool Corporation

Whirlpool Corporation, the world's leading manufacturer of home appliances with annual revenues of approximately $21 billion, 92,000 employees and 65 production and technology research centers, has selected REMONDIS to provide waste management services to its white goods factory in Manisa, Turkey.

The contract will see REMONDIS handle more than 4,000 tonnes of waste generated by the washing machine and refrigerator manufacturer each year. Besides recycling packaging waste, plastic and scrap metal, REMONDIS will also be building bridges by sharing expertise about how to improve operational efficiency. With a separating and collection plant located in Izmir on the Aegean coast, REMONDIS already provides comprehensive waste management services to industrial clients in Turkey.

REMONDIS Maintenance & Services has good news to share: it recently acquired Reym B.V., an industrial cleaning and environmental services company that is well known for its strong ties to the oil and gas industry. With a large number of branches across three regions in the Netherlands and a workforce of more than 700 employees, Reym generated revenues of EUR129m in the past financial year. The deal, which is backdated to 1 April, offers REMONDIS Maintenance & Services a chance to extend and round off its comprehensive portfolio of industrial services and to broaden its network in the Netherlands. Future cooperation between Reym and the REMONDIS industrial services subsidiary BUCHEN Group is expected to create additional value for customers. BUCHEN offers a wide range of services for cleaning and maintaining industrial facilities and plant parts.

From left to right: Head of the Chamber of Commerce Mr Aleksander König, Minister for Family, Labour and Social Policy Ms Bozena Borys-Szopa and managing director of REMONDIS Tarnowskie Góry Sp. z o.o. Mr Piotr Lubos

Day in, day out REMONDIS is taking strides to couple the provision of reliable recycling services for local communities with environmental education for residents. And people are taking notice. Our Polish branch REMONDIS Tarnowskie Góry was recently recognised for its corporate social responsibility efforts with the “Bay Leaf CSR Award”. REMONDIS Tarnowskie Góry’s endeavours in schools and at community events have helped to strengthen the reputation of the REMONDIS brand throughout Poland - connecting the REMONDIS name with reliability, credibitility and responsibility.

Participants exchanged their experiences and developed new ideas for the future to 'make change happen' in several rounds of discussion

Left: Managers from Transdev Group and REMONDIS Group get together to network in Kamp-Lintfort. Right: A visit to the combined cycle power plant in Herdecke

REMONDIS managers recently travelled from all over the world to the western German town of Kamp-Lintfort to attend this year’s International Management Meeting. With a theme of Make Change Happen, this year’s event spanning three days in the middle of October. Highlights included an evening reception and get-together with representatives of Transdev Group as well as visits to the combined cycle power plant in Herdecke and the AHE biogas plant in Witten. Managers also had the chance to attend a number of panel sessions about the REMONDIS Group as well as lectures by Carsten Fritsch, a commodity analyst at Commerzbank AG, about the development of commodity markets from an international perspective and by Professor Enzo Weber from the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) about macroeconomic labour market development. The event offered managers an excellent opportunity to network and share creative ideas from their home countries.

Elsewhere, our company invited guests from the world of policy-making, business and academia to take part in the REMONDIS Forum in northern German town of Schwerin. With the theme of 'The city of the future - innovations and sustainability for society and the municipality', this year's REMONDIS Forum focused on the challenges and opportunities associated with future innovations. The 14th edition of this event in late September addressed topics including how cooperation and technical innovation can prepare for migration from rural communities and legislative changes in areas such as self-driving shuttles and low-energy homes.

Some of the apprentices who joined the RETHMANN Group on 1 August 2019

REMONDIS offers not only outstanding services for our customers, but also promising and rewarding careers for the next generation. Our company is in an excellent position to challenge the skills shortage in Germany by offering high-quality apprenticeships for young people who are increasingly interested in protecting our environment. More than 1,200 talented apprentices are now learning more about jobs like driving trucks and serving as industrial and office management assistants at REMONDIS.

A warm welcome from Norbert Rethmann in Lünen

At a recent event to welcome the new class of apprentices hosted by Norbert Rethmann, Honorary Chairman of the RETHMANN Supervisory Board, young professionals enjoyed a tour of the Lünen site, which cuts carbon emissions by 488,000 tonnes per year, validating their decision to join the company.

New apprentices ready to broaden their horizons at Lausitzer Wasser GmbH & Co. KG. Credit: LWG

Another group of young people has embarked on apprenticeships at REMONDIS Aqua’s subsidiary Lausitzer Wasser GmbH & Co. KG. The water services company’s training workshop recently welcomed 21 newcomers to the plant mechanic apprenticeship – a new record. The workshop is also training its first electrician for industrial engineering. Since its establishment in 1993, 363 young people have undergone training at the workshop, which enjoys a strong reputation thanks to its highly experienced team of trainers.

As you can tell from this newsletter, REMONDIS's commitment to creative and innovative solutions is bearing fruit. We look forward to continuing to find ways to advance mobility and recycling for our company, our customers and our world.