Sustainable growth
At the end of 2016, REMONDIS took over the Belgian family-run company, BVBA Vervoer Depoorter – an important step towards expanding its recycling business in the Benelux countries. Thanks to its acquisition of this Ostend-based firm, REMONDIS has succeeded in considerably growing its operations in the country, particularly in the west of Belgium.
An investment that is well worth its while
Depoorter is a well-known name in the Ostend region, leading the market when it comes to offering container services and handling commercial and mixed construction waste. REMONDIS is looking to make the most of this strong position and to further increase the volumes of materials collected and treated there. At the same time, it wishes to grow its activities in the neighbouring coastal regions. Werner Hols, a managing director at REMONDIS International, believes that the takeover of Depoorter (officially valid from 01 October 2015) is a long-term investment that will help promote sustainable development across the whole of the region. What’s more, he continued, this was an important location as it could support REMONDIS’ UK activities in the area of refuse derived fuels (RDF).
In 2015, Depoorter collected and processed almost 80,000 tonnes of recyclables in the West Flanders region
It all began with a municipal contract
REMONDIS Belgium first entered the Belgian market six years ago when it began offering its services in Wallonia, in the south of the country. It had previously taken part in a Europe-wide tender process and been awarded a major contract by IDELUX (an association owned by a group of local authorities) to collect household waste from 50 districts in the Belgian province of Luxembourg. One particular challenge that the company had to face here was the fact that this region is so sparsely populated. Double-chamber waste collection trucks and pay-as-you-throw systems (measured by weight) were introduced across the area to ensure the complex task of storing and collecting residual and organic waste was carried out efficiently.
A wide variety of activities
Further public sector contracts have followed since then – for example in Antwerp, where REMONDIS is responsible for collecting household waste and organic waste. In addition to this, the company also works for the municipal association IBW in the province of Walloon Brabant collecting household waste from a number of different districts (around 80,000 local inhabitants) south of the capital city Brussels. One of REMONDIS’ latest successes is the contract awarded by INTRADEL, a large waste management and recycling association owned by a number of different local councils. Thanks to this contract, REMONDIS has been responsible – since the beginning of 2017 – for collecting waste from the 120,000 people living in and around Liege as well as for the subsequent invoicing process. Modern electronic pay-as-you-throw systems and double-chamber waste collection trucks are being used here, too, to store and collect residual waste, organic waste, packaging, paper and cardboard. All in all, REMONDIS currently serves more than 500,000 people living in Belgium.
Close collaboration between the sister companies
Several different REMONDIS Group companies operate on the Belgian market besides REMONDIS Belgium’s own businesses. XERVON, BUCHEN and REMONDIS Industrie Service all have branches there, all of which primarily provide services for industrial businesses. A further name joined the network at the beginning of the year when REMONDIS’ firm, RHENUS Recycling, purchased a share in GRL Glasrecycling, a family-run company based in Lummen, Flanders.
GRL Glasrecycling joined the REMONDIS Group’s Belgian network at the beginning of 2017
With the network spread across the whole of the country, there is a huge potential for the different companies to collaborate closely with one another. Matthias Illing, managing director of REMONDIS Belgium, commented: “We have a very good reputation among our public sector clients. Our task now is to build on this and grow our activities in the area of commercial waste. We will be making the most of the opportunities available here in Belgium to work with our sister companies, such as BUCHEN, REMONDIS Industrie Service and GRL Glasrecycling.”
Image credits: Picture 1: fotolia, 106666784 | Author: jpgon
