REMONDIS's vehicles ready to serve more customers in Scandinavia.

Our national and international customers can look forward to an even wider portfolio of services in Scandinavia thanks to a new takeover: REMONDIS will become the sole owner of Veolia Recycling Solutions Nordic AB, strengthening its position in Northern Europe and ramping up its operations in Sweden. With 65 sites in Sweden, which will be part of the REMONDIS family, Veolia Recycling Solutions Nordic AB specialises in providing traditional recycling services, including collecting, processing and marketing recycled raw materials and services. The acquisition will also mark REMONDIS's first foray into the Swedish industrial cleaning market.

Werner Hols, CEO North & West Europe, stressed the importance of the future acquisition for REMONDIS: "We are delighted to be able to soon considerably extend our market presence in Scandinavia by taking over the Veolia Recycling Solutions Nordic AB locations in Sweden. We will be able to offer our national and international customers a varied and wide range of high quality services in the Nordic countries. By expanding our Swedish presence with 65 new locations, we will succeed in taking an important step."

A look inside the new Tomago Resource Recovery Facility. © La Bella Vita Photography

REMONDIS is preparing to ramp up a new Resource Recovery Facility in Tomago, Australia that will almost double the amount of material the company handles in the local area. Located in the east coast state of New South Wales, the new facility will receive a vast array of materials for processing and recycling from homes, businesses, mines and construction sites throughout the Hunter, Lake Macquarie and Central Coast regions. This location will be a one-stop hub, handling almost 100,000 tonnes of materials each year, including paper, cardboard, plastics, glass, metals, wood, concrete, along with garden organics, electronic goods, muds, hydrocarbons and oily water, and employ 76 people. At the heart of the facility is a Refuse Derived Fuel (RDF) plant that will turn materials into solid fuel that can be used as a cleaner alternative to burning fossil fuels.

The Executive Director of the Waste Contractors and Recyclers Association of New South Wales, Tony Khoury, noted, "the aim of modern waste management is to do what’s possible to stop unrecyclable waste going into the ground. On that front this project ticks all the boxes, making it a big win for the environment and the broader community.” REMONDIS's Hunter and Western Region NSW Manager, Scott Smith, added, "the Hunter recycling rate sits at about 40 percent, whereas New South Wales has state-wide targets of 80 percent and beyond. We're confident this facility will narrow that gap." Subject to final approvals, the Tomago site will begin operating by December and enter full operations early in 2022.

REMONDIS expands its service portfolio to include reverse vending technology. © Diebold Nixdorf

The transition to a circular economy will be a journey of many steps. REMONDIS recently took another such move by acquiring reverse vending machine and solutions operations from Diebold Nixdorf Incorporated (DN) in their entirety. Diebold Nixdorf Technology GmbH and Diebold Nixdorf Retail Services GmbH are taken over as part of a share deal. This transaction, which is subject to approval from competition authorities, will allow REMONDIS to enhance its smart take-back technology business in Germany. Internationally, further collection systems for the separate collection of recyclable materials will be created as part of the implementation of the Single Use Plastics Directive. The acquisition will also allow REMONDIS to extend its portfolio of services to include all service modules for collection systems created as part of the EU Circular Economy Action Plan towards more separate collections and closed material cycles. By providing intelligent take-back technologies, REMONDIS wants to support developments towards a true materials cycle economy.

"The purchase of the DN Technology vending machine construction division and the DN Retail service business is an important step for REMONDIS towards becoming a full-service provider in the environmental service sector. As a result, we can offer customers in Germany and many other countries comprehensive recycling solutions. Together with DN Technology and DN Retail, our range of services extends from taking back high quality recyclable materials, reverse logistics, sorting and recycling to producing high quality recycled raw materials which can also be returned to their original applications. REMONDIS wants to make its contribution on the way to a real, closed-loop material cycle economy. An elementary component of this is to create smart take-back solutions which make it possible to process the waste into high-quality recycled raw materials at a later stage," said Ralf Mandelatz, Managing Director of REMONDIS Recycling.

The main feature of this process is an automated high-pressure machine equipped with a high-pressure pump and tank cleaning head. Once inserted into the cement kilns' cyclone preheaters and calciners, which are the areas most affected by deposit build-up, the tank cleaning head can move around freely in even very tight spaces. All that's left to do is to set the water pressure and discharge rate and the high-pressure water jet can get to work - and all of this remotely from a location outside the kiln.

The contract will include an order for 16 new high-capacity double-decker trainsets and a new maintenance and storage depot in Nice. Transdev will make the line even more environmentally friendly by purchasing green certificates from the electricity supplier chosen by Transdev. Drivers will also receive training in environmentally sound driving practices.

"This announcement is excellent news for Transdev, the Region and its inhabitants. Thanks to new, more comfortable trains with numerous services, a doubling in the number of daily trains and an organization designed to ensure better service reliability, we will help to strengthen the attractiveness of this line, which is a key factor for the Région Sud. These changes are fundamental to enable residents to choose the train and thus accelerate the ecological transition in the region," says Thierry Mallet, Chairman and CEO of Transdev Group.

Above: Rhenus is opening a new branch in Oslo. © Rhenus SE & Co. KG

Rhenus will be represented in Norway from the beginning of February 2022. By opening an office in Norway, the internationally active logistics service provider is strengthening its presence in Scandinavia.

For Rhenus, the new location is the first in Norway, and for Rhenus Air & Ocean it is the first one in Scandinavia. The expansion of the existing global network is highlighted in particular by the close links with the Rhenus Air & Ocean locations in the Netherlands, Belgium, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

"The opening of the new location in Norway marks an important strategic step for the Rhenus Group and an expansion into new markets using our own network. It strengthens our presence in the Nordic countries and brings us even closer to our customers," explains Frank Roderkerk, CEO Northern and Western Europe, Rhenus Air & Ocean.

In addition to air and ocean freight, the new location offers other services such as supplying offshore platforms, project logistics as well as logistical support in the areas of healthcare, mining, aid and relieve services, renewable energy and perishable goods.

Oslo offers Rhenus ideal conditions for the new location. A well-developed infrastructure with efficient transport means and routes, easy accessibility and new, modern buildings allow excellent working conditions for the dynamic team in Norway. "Currently, Rhenus Air & Ocean is not present in Scandinavia and therefore intends to strengthen its presence on the Norwegian market by establishing a branch in Oslo, the country's capital and economic powerhouse of the country," emphasises Bent Thomasen, Managing Director of Rhenus Norway.

There was a great turnout to mark the AHK's 25th birthday in Poland. © AHK Poland

The Polish-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce (AHK) recently celebrated 25 years since its establishment in 1996. REMONDIS is proud to be one of the founding members of the chamber, which now counts over 1,000 members. Representing companies big and small, the AHK is by far the largest organisation active in Polish-German business and trade relations.

Above left and middle: Leonardo Cascio spent his day shift collecting bins. © Sporza  | Above right: And then his evening in goal against AA Gent. © Patrick Smets

It was a busy October day for one member of the REMONDIS family in Belgium: after his shift, a driver and binman working from our Limburg site stepped out onto the football pitch as goalkeeper for his local team Belisia Bilzen. Their opponents: the top-flight football club AA Gent. The sports channel Sporza followed Leonardo Cascio around on his shift and in the stadium. You can see more by watching the videos on its website (© Sporza)