The REMONDIS Group can look back on an intensive week at the trade fair: IFAT, the world’s leading trade fair for water, sewage, waste and raw materials management, finally opened its doors again in Munich from 30 May to 3 June 2022. This was preceded by a four-year forced break due to the Corona pandemic. The need for everyone to catch up was therefore great and the range of discussion rounds, lectures and premieres was huge. At this point, we would like to take a look back at the five days of the trade fair and mention a few highlights from the REMONDIS Group’s point of view.
Tour of the trade fair & visit by the Minister for the Environment
On the very first day of the trade fair, there were high-calibre visitors: Steffi Lemke, Federal Minister for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection, and Thorsten Glauber, Bavarian State Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection, spoke to representatives from politics, the economy, companies and associations during the traditional tour of the trade fair. The tour also took them to the REMONDIS stand where honorary supervisory board chairman Norbert Rethmann and other REMONDIS representatives discussed the current and future challenges facing the environmental industry with the guests.
The 17 coloured pillars at the REMONDIS stand were particularly well received during the discussion: here, an interactive presentation was given of the measures REMONDIS is taking to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Read more about the SDG pillars here.
Steffi Lemke had representatives from REMONDIS explain the 17 SDG pillars to her
At the REMONDIS stand, Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board Norbert Rethmann and other REMONDIS representatives discussed the current and future challenges in the environmental industry with the guests.
from left: Reinhard Schneider, Managing Partner of Werner & Mertz, Michael Schneider, Press Spokesperson REMONDIS, Dr. Nabila Rabanizada, Technical Manager Plastics Recycling REMONDIS, and Herwart Wilms, Managing Director REMONDIS
Press Conference with Werner & Mertz
Also on Monday, REMONDIS held a press conference to present the joint cooperation with Werner & Mertz.
The two companies have now joined forces under the umbrella of the “Recyclat-Initiative” to demonstrate how plastic cycles can be fully closed using practical application examples. The common goal is to establish sustainable material cycles and to use the recyclable material from the source “yellow bag” for this purpose.
Reinhard Schneider, managing partner of Werner & Mertz, Herwart Wilms, managing director of REMONDIS, and Dr Nabila Rabanizada, technical manager for plastics recycling at REMONDIS, explained the path taken by the raw material from the yellow bag via the further developed mechanical processing back into the production cycle and into new sustainable packaging. The panel participants also reiterated their demand for improved political framework conditions in the EU.
Further information on the cooperation can be found here.
BDE-Talk: How do we end the plastic crisis?
Following on from the press conference, the topic was also intensively discussed on the second day of the trade fair: The BDE invited participants to a panel discussion in the special plastics area: Here, Herwart Wilms, managing director of REMONDIS, Reinhard Schneider, managing partner of Werner & Mertz, and Timothy Glaz, head of corporate affairs at Werner & Mertz, discussed the intelligent recycling of plastic packaging. The discussion was moderated by environmentalist and actor Hannes Jaenicke.
An exciting exchange in which the discussion partners agreed: The major challenges can only be mastered through the interaction of business, politics and society.
from left: Herwart Wilms, Reinhard Schneider, Hannes Jaenicke und Timothy Glaz discussed the question: “How do we end the plastics crisis“
Herwart Wilms, Managing Director of REMONDIS, talks about his highlights of IFAT 2022 in the industry podcast TrashTalk.
Invited to the industry podcast TrashTalk
Herwart Wilms, managing director of REMONDIS, was also a guest on the industry podcast TrashTalk. Together with EUWID editor-in-chief Tom Wilfer and DGAW board member Dr.-Ing Julia Hobohm, he spoke about, among other things, his highlights of IFAT 2022, the development of our industry since the last IFAT four years ago and also about how we need to think about this leading world trade fair even bigger and more sustainably in the future. An exciting conversation worth listening to!
Thanks for the invitation and here you can listen to the IFAT episodes (only in German).
REMONDIS on many lecture stages
During the IFAT week, representatives of REMONDIS were welcome guests on various lecture stages and in panel discussions. You can read about who spoke on which topic in the following list:
- Bernd Fleschenberg, COO TSR Recycling, participated in the panel discussions „Capacity and processes: How to increase the substitution rate of non-ferrous and ferrous metals?“ and „End-of -life-vehicles as a source of raw materials“.
- Simon Giutronich, project management REMONDIS Aqua, spoke about „Intelligent real-time monitoring of urban infrastructure during extreme weather events through IoT“.
- Jürgen Ephan, managing director REMONDIS Recycling, participated in the panel discussion „Future of circular economy – chemical recycling as one component“.
- Dr. Harald Lehmann, business development/project management REMONDIS Recycling, spoke about „German Standardization Roadmap Circular Economy – Tomorrow’s Standards: First Insights into the Recommendations for Action in the Field of Packaging, Textiles and Plastics“.
- Andreas Rak, managing director REMONDIS TetraPhos, spoke in a series of lectures about „Cycles, Phosphorus, Digitalisation – Solutions of the German Water Industry“.
- Johannes Schön, managing director REMONDIS Digital Services and Andréas von Kaenel, CEO Cortexia, talked about „AI to optimize the quality, safety and efficiency of urban services“.
Simon Giutronich, REMONDIS Aqua
Jürgen Ephan, REMONDIS Recycling (right)
Andreas Rak, REMONDIS TetraPhos
Stands with REMONDIS participation
REMONDIS was represented at numerous stands in various halls, special areas and outdoor areas at IFAT and presented the whole range of the Group. The following is a brief overview of the individual stand presences:
Main stand in Hall A6
The central meeting point was the REMONDIS Group’s main stand in Hall A6 – under the motto “Climate protection through environmental services”. Representatives from the three business areas – recycling, service and water – presented themselves here and were available for discussions. The “entrance gate” to the stand was formed by the 17 coloured pillars and six monitors with which REMONDIS presented the measures it has taken to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. With its particularly sustainable main stand – paperless, without advertising material, with selected food – the REMONDIS Group came second out of around 3,000 exhibitors at the Sustainability Award.
Special area plastics
„Too precious to waste“ – This was the motto of the special plastics area that the BDE Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Raw Materials Management Industry implemented at IFAT Munich 2022 together with the Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK). Together with Werner & Mertz, REMONDIS also presented itself at a joint stand in the special area. The two companies presented their cooperation in plastics recycling at IFAT and want to establish sustainable material cycles in the future and use the recyclable material from the “yellow bag” source for this purpose.
ITCpro
At the ITCpro stand, the colleagues showed practical, innovative solutions: The ITCpro fill level sensor offers a laser-based fill level measurement for waste containers. This unique selling point in the field of depot container emptying increases the degree of automation of the collection process and enhances service quality and efficiency. The automatic daily transmission of fill levels reduces empty runs, which minimises CO2 emissions.
REMONDIS Digital Services and Cortexia
The joint stand of REMONDIS Digital Services and Cortexia was all about urban cleanliness and innovations in the environmental industry: Dr Johannes Schön, managing director of REMONDIS Digital Services (left), and Andréas von Kaenel, CEO of Cortexia (right), and their teams were on hand to answer questions in the Start-up Area, right next to the Innovation Stage. The two companies are working on making urban cleanliness measurable with AI, optimising route planning with IoT and thus actively shaping the future of environmental technologies.
REMONDIS Industrie Service/RETRON
In the atrium, RETRON presented product solutions and services for the disposal of lithium-ion batteries. Lithium-ion batteries are ubiquitous – they are in lawnmowers, hoovers, e-bikes and tools. But especially when damaged, they are a real high-risk material. So there is an urgent need for a safe system for anyone handling lithium-ion batteries. This is where RETRON comes in.
Take a seat in the driving simulator
There was a lot of action in the atrium because REMONDIS came to IFAT with a driving simulator. The driving simulator is used by the REMONDIS Group to train its own professional drivers. Visitors therefore had the unique opportunity to take a seat during IFAT. How difficult is it to manoeuvre a large vehicle? What is the safest and most environmentally friendly way to drive?
FILTRATEC
In Hall A2, FILTRATEC showed solutions for sludge dewatering and automated tank cleaning. The sustainable solutions aim to reduce disposal volumes while recovering recyclable materials.
Recruiting with a video box
All career starters or job seekers were invited to drop by the REMONDIS video application box in the atrium. In the box, interested people could apply for an advertised job at one of REMONDIS’ more than 500 locations or record a speculative application. The virtual round of questions lasted a maximum of 5 minutes and was child’s play.
REMONDIS Group looks back on five exciting, varied and informative days at the trade fair. This review could only summarise some of the highlights of IFAT 2022 in quick succession. We are already looking forward to seeing you again in Munich from 13 to 17 May 2024!
Image credits: © REMONDIS
