Shanks, VGG complete merger

Following the completion of its merger with the Dutch company Van Gansewinkel Groep B.V. (VGG), Shanks, based in the U.K., has announced that the newly combined company will operate under the name Renewi PLC.  Approvals for the merger from EU authorities were received in mid-February 2017.

Renewi, which will be headquartered in Buckinghamshire, U.K., will begin trading on the London Stock Exchange 1 March 2017 under the symbol RMI. The company will be one of the largest environmental services firms in Europe with 8,000 employees working at more than 250 locations in nine countries: Netherlands, U.K., Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Portugal, France, Luxembourg and Canada.

Renewi notes that following extensive planning, which has been underway prior to the merger's completion, a new senior management team has been put in place to help ensure the integration of the businesses. The management includea Colin Matthews as group chairman; Peter Dilnot, CEO; Toby Woolrych, chief financial officer; Eric van Amerongen, senior independent director; and Jacques Petry, Stephen Riley, Marina Wyatt and Allard Castelein, nonexecutive directors.

“Renewi brings together Shanks and Van Gansewinkel to create a new, international waste-to-product leader," Dilnot says. "By giving new life to used materials, we will protect the world from contamination, preserve finite natural resources and enable customers to meet their sustainability goals. With our deep international expertise, we also provide them with an extensive product range, combined with local service and attention."

Regarding recyclables, Renewi says it will process 1.2 million tonnes of glass, 552,000 tonnes of paper and old corrugated containers (OCC) and 1.8 million tons of C&D material per year.

The company also highlights several projects it has established with existing manufacturers, including its partnership with Philips to produce a vacuum cleaner made from 30 percent recycled plastic from discarded old vacuum cleaners; working with Miele to deliver back cast iron for washing machines; producing bricks from ashes formed by incinerators; and creating packaging from crop waste.

“For us, waste is a state of mind, an opportunity," Dilnot says. "When we take away someone’s waste we then give it new life. We transform a wide range of used materials into valuable products for our customers, like recycled paper, metal, plastic and glass, clean water, woodchips and compost, energy and fuel, and other products."

Renewi will operate across five divisions:

• Netherlands Commercial, which involves collecting, sorting, treating and recycling commercial and household waste in the Netherlands; 
• Belgium Commercial, which involves collecting, sorting, treating and recycling commercial and household waste in Belgium; 
• Hazardous Waste, which involves treating soil, water and packed chemical waste at the company’s ATM facility and conducting specialist industrial cleaning in the Netherlands; 
• Monostreams, which inolves managing a range of waste streams focusing on specific end markets such as glass, electronic goods, organics and minerals in Europe; and
• Municipal, which involves operating long-term waste management contracts with local authorities in the U.K. and Canada.