Above: REMONDIS is working hard for a smarter tomorrow.

It's a new name, but the same mission for eight branches providing innovative infrastructure services in the Netherlands, which were already part of the REMONDIS family. This step pools our expertise and deepens cooperation. We are ready for the future - something that is evident by the new name under which these eight entities operate: REMONDIS Smart Infra. Their mission: To ensure that we conserve water, a valuable natural resource.

To this end, these entities offer a complete package featuring services from construction and renovation to service and maintenance as well as cleaning and inspection. Control technology and I-View telemetry are also part of their portfolio. Serving customers from local authorities and water associations to industrial clients all over the Netherlands, REMONDIS takes care of water systems by minimising the use of resources and providing customers with insights.

As a holistic partner that pools mechanical and electrical engineering and automation expertise, REMONDIS Smart Infra offers customised solutions from advice, planning and project development and implementation to around-the-clock maintenance, cleaning and management by highly trained technicians. These services help to position REMONDIS Smart Infra as our customers' strategic partner for the sustainable and innovative management of electrical and mechanical infrastructure facilities. Changing name from REMONDIS Rioolservice to REMONDIS Smart Infra was the logical step in bringing all branches under the same umbrella.

As Dr Michael Rose, Managing Director of REMONDIS Smart Infra, noted, "REMONDIS wants to further expand its services on the infrastructure market and is focusing on taking our smart services to the next level. We think there is a growing need to make public infrastructure smarter and we want to help our customers in this area." Want to know more about what smarter means, find out how we have already helped our customers and learn what we have planned next? Stay tuned for the next issue of the REMONDIS International Newsletter.

In the meantime, you can discover more about REMONDIS Smart Infra by watching this video!

Below: REMONDIS Smart Infra is a holistic partner that offers comprehensive solutions for customers in the water sector. © Jurgen Pillen

Above left: a DataFleet device installed into a refuse collection vehicle. | Above right: The system will soon be able to detect fly-tipping too.

REMONDIS Digital Services developed and continues to refine the DataFleet solution. The system has been live in Oberhausen, Germany since March 2020 and has since expanded to four cities in total. DataFleet combines optical sensors with artificial intelligence. Once a recycling collection route is completed, data about potential hazards and problems in the city is automatically transferred to a cloud-based database. Data can be shown in visual form in a web-based dashboard or transferred to the local authority's existing geographic information system via API. REMONDIS is now working to take this solution to the next level: in the future, the system should be able to automatically detect and report fly-tipping – meaning not just safer, but also cleaner cities for drivers and residents. And we are also involving a multitude of partners as we look for other applications for this system to make life - and work - easier for our local authority partners. The system creates real added value for the local authorities that we work with closely all over the globe.

Would you like to receive more information or get in direct touch with our expert? Johannes Schön is happy to help. You can send him an email or give him a call on +49 170 70 64011.

One of the buses that will keep people moving in Colombia. © BYD Colombia

The transition to clean public transport will be key in our efforts to reduce emissions and mitigate climate change. The mobility operator Transdev, part of our RETHMANN family, is working to create a sustainable and electric urban bus fleet for the Colombian capital, Bogotá. Under the terms of a 15-year contract inked with Bogotá City's Public Transport Authority, TransMilenio, Transdev will operate and maintain 406 electric buses starting in November this year. Passengers can look forward to modern, comfortable, safe and zero-emissions travel and commuting as the city's 20-year-old traditional diesel buses are being replaced. The electric bus fleet will soon be the largest in South America and be part of a network encompassing 15 routes carrying 36 million passengers yearly.

Transdev will also work with its Colombian partner Fanalca to operate, park, maintain and charge these new electric vehicles. To this end, they are jointly building South America's largest electric bus depot with an area of over 40,000 m². As Transdev Group's Chairman and CEO Thierry Mallet noted, "I am convinced that, for large urban areas, there is no way around the mass deployment of sustainable mobility solutions, including biofuels, battery-electric and ultimately hydrogen and fuel-cell electric fleets."

Colombia is not a new market for Transdev. In fact, the exact opposite. Our history there goes back over 20 years. Together with Fanalca, Transdev operates the world’s largest bus rapid transit system for TransMilenio in Bogotá. Including the new contract, Transdev will run a total of more than 1,000 buses in Bogotá at the end of 2021.

Elsewhere in Latin America, Transdev's Brazilian arm has signed a long-term contract that will see it design and commercially operate the future metro line 6 in São Paulo, Brazil. This fully automated 15.3 km-long metro line will serve 15 stations between Brâsilandia in the northwest to the city centre, transporting some 650,000 passengers each day when it opens to service in 2025. Known as the Orange Line, metro line 6 is Latin America's largest Public Private Partnership infrastructure project under way.

Back in Bogotá, Transdev is advancing other mobility solutions - including in the skies. Read more about how passengers there are enjoying smooth sailing in the next issue.

Above: The Hüyük advanced sewage treatment plant in Turkey. 

As part of our efforts to create a cleaner world, REMONDIS is working together with a metropolitan municipality in Turkey to drive improvements to its sewage and effluent treatment capabilities. Our company is operating two advanced sewage treatment plants on behalf of the Konya General Directorate of Water and Sewerage Administration (KOSKI). Konya is Turkey's seventh most-populated city with over 2 million inhabitants and one of the country's most important industrial centres. Located south-west of Konya, the Seydişehir plant has a daily treatment capacity of almost 6,000 m³. In addition to removing carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus, this complex also performs sludge dewatering and odour removal services. A second plant in Hüyük will treat approximately 1,000 m³ of sewage each day, including carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus removal and sludge dewatering stages. REMONDIS will operate these facilities and also perform laboratory analysis, transport sludge and carry out maintenance and repair on the two sites - helping to conserve this precious resource.

Below: The Seydişehir sewage treatment facility operated by REMONDIS.

Recognising interests and qualities
"I think that managers and shareholders knowing their mutual interests and working together based on personal qualities really is one of the keys to success. We always considered this aspect when partnering with REMONDIS. Thanks to its decentralised structure, REMONDIS offers a great deal of leeway for decision-making based on what is happening at the local level. This means that we can draw on the knowledge and expertise of a player in the international market while also responding to regional issues on the market at the same time. As regards mutual cooperation, both parties have always been extremely careful to look at where these qualities lie and how they can best be leveraged to develop ARN. REMONDIS is a family-owned company with a long-term vision. And the sense of responsibility to deliver on this vision is deeply enshrined in the firm's DNA. This combination of international operations with a family company is unique in the market and makes REMONDIS an ideal partner for a Public Private Partnership," explains Gerard van Gorkum.

Strategic benefits
"REMONDIS's outstanding market and technical knowledge allowed us to analyse what was happening on the market in very precise detail and determine where ARN's strengths lay, for instance. Our energy recovery plant proved to be really good at managing specific, more challenging material streams – the very thing that the market was lacking. As a result, we decided to focus our activities in this direction, meaning that our energy recovery plant could always run at maximum capacity despite fluctuations in material streams.

This strategic decision has made sure that ARN is a financially sound company and can help its public shareholders to reach their sustainability goals. For instance, we have worked with a number of partners to set up a heating network to heat homes and offices in the region. Opting for sustainable energy reduces the use of natural gas. We also developed a unique, innovative plant for the sustainable recovery of nappy materials – slashing the amount of residual materials collected in the region. Finally, we built a digester and composting facility to process fruit, vegetable and garden refuse, converting it into compost – a valuable raw material for agriculture and horticulture. Biogas generated by the plant is upgraded to natural gas quality and used as fuel in public transport. CO2 segregated during upgrading is captured and used in nearby greenhouses. We were grateful that we could draw on REMONDIS's expertise in all of these developments," adds Gerard van Gorkum.

Looking to the future
In retrospect, Gerard van Gorkum believes that ARN would not be where it is today without this successful partnership. ARN is a stable organisation with loyal and dedicated workers and a solid position as a recovery and recycling company in the Netherlands and a champion for sustainability in the region. "The changes required a great deal of discussion to get everyone on board, but it was more than worthwhile. Together with REMONDIS, ARN is an innovative and remarkable resource management company in the Netherlands and more than ready for the future," sums up Gerard van Gorkum.

Above: This website greets visitors ready to order REMONDIS's services.

REMONDIS's customers in Belgium have a quick and easy way to place orders and find the information that they need – at any hour of the day or night.

We have launched two sites to cater to our customers' needs. The webshop is where businesses, local authorities and private customers can place new orders with a single click of their mouse. This site offers a quick, practical and convenient way to order containers for a wide variety of materials such as wood, construction and green refuse, and arrange all kinds of toilet rental services.

Industrial customers can also log into the customer portal to track down everything they need to know about their contractual services, orders and invoices. They can also view information about their different material streams by quantity and type in real time and receive email notifications if new documents are added to their file. It is an intuitive and user-friendly tool that is available to our customers at all hours of the day and night. This customer portal, which conveniently lists the customers' material streams from A to Z, is part of our efforts to help our customers play their part in the transition to a circular economy where resources are conserved.   

Below: REMONDIS's industrial customers can find all relevant information about the services that they use in real time.

Cable recycling helps to put valuable recycled raw materials back into the economy.

Making the transition to a circular economy will require that companies work together to advance recycling technologies for a variety of materials. One such example is the cable recycling joint venture that TSR, a member of the REMONDIS Group and one of the world's leading ferrous and non-ferrous metal recyclers, recently forged with Aurubis, a leading global provider of non-ferrous metals and one of the biggest copper recyclers in the world. The new entity - in which TSR will hold a 60 per cent stake with the other 40 per cent in the hands of Aurubis – will pool Aurubis's cable dismantling activities in Fehrbellin near Berlin and TSR's operations in Gelsenkirchen in North Rhine-Westphalia. This partnership will bring together a huge amount of expertise: Cablo, a member of Aurubis SE, specialises in recycling copper and aluminium cable while Aurubis itself has profound knowledge of metallurgical processing for a multitude of recycled raw materials. TSR brings its skills in nationwide collection schemes, logistics and recycling activities for countless types of cable. As in every REMONDIS business area, the companies will focus on closing the loop. At the end of the chain, the partners will generate valuable recycled raw materials like metal granules and plastics to sell.

TSR operates a centre of expertise for cable recycling with two processing lines in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. Its second processing line with a state-of-the-art technology was added last summer and focuses on processing household cables, cables with plugs and shredded copper from armatures made out of copper, iron, small electric motors and composite materials. In the future, the company Cablo aims to handle 40,000 tonnes per year in total, 20,000 tonnes per year at both locations each. Working together with Aurubis will certainly help to advance cable recycling technology and make sure that even more materials are kept in the economic cycle.

In summary, TSR Managing Director, Bernd Fleschenberg, noted, "One of the main goals of the European Commission’s Green Deal is to transform our linear economy into a circular economy. Our joint venture will make an important contribution towards driving forward the circular economy – and act as a role model for other material streams."

Olgierd Geblewicz, Marshal of the West Pomeranian voivodeship (right), hands over the award to Ronald Laska, REMONDIS's Managing Director in Szczecin (left).

The Managing Director of REMONDIS Szczecin, Ronald Laska, was recently recognised with the West Pomeranian Griffin Badge of Honour. Recognising people who have made an outstanding contribution to economic, cultural and social development in West Pomerania, this award was handed over by the voivodeship's Marshal Olgierd Geblewicz, in a small, symbolic ceremony. In his remarks, Mr Laska noted that, "this honour recognises the company and its activities for the good of the region and is not just for me. It pays tribute to the work carried out by the entire team that I lead: the people who manage refuse, who are involved in transporting and processing it, who clean streets, who set up containers, who buy the materials we need, who allocate tasks, who draw up offers and who solve everyday problems. I am delighted that our company was recognised. My colleagues and I look forward to continuing to perform work that residents and local authorities appreciate in the future."

Guests from the Tatarstan delegation explore a REMONDIS facility (left) and REMONDIS's separate collection systems in Mordovia, Russia (right). © Press Office Governor Republic of Mordovia

A delegation from the Republic of Tatarstan made up of Parliamentary Members, the Managing Director of the region's recycling management operator and the head of the Regional Tariff Authority recently stopped by REMONDIS's premises in Saransk, Republic of Mordovia, Russia. The Chair of the Tatarstan Parliament had asked the Republic of Mordovia's new Governor, Artem Zdunov, to arrange a forum where stakeholders could share experiences with transitioning to a modern circular economy. The guests were extremely interested in separate recyclable collection systems in Saransk that are organised by REMONDIS and were impressed by REMONDIS's several container collection locations and new site in Saransk. Along with learning about treatment technologies, delegates also gained insights into financing models in Russia for separate recyclable collection infrastructure – lessons that they can take back home to make Tatarstan cleaner and greener too.