PDM Group to rebrand as SARIA

The plans will see PDM Group change its name to that of its German sister company the renewable energy and animal by-products business, which owns a majority stake in PDM. Both are a part of the German-owned Rethman Group, which also runs the hazardous waste specialist Remondis.

The petfood brands of PDM, Chettles and Granox and category three rendering brands will now operate as SARVAL. PDMs category one rendering businesses, which include Granox Ltd, J L Thomas, Clutton and Frome Vale, will operate under the SecAnim name.

Meanwhile, PDMs food waste recycling and anaerobic digestion sites in Doncaster, Widnes (2014) and Dagenham (2015) will continue to operate under the ReFood UK brand.

Philip Simpson, commercial director at PDM Group said: The move marks a real milestone for the business. We are investing over 90m in all of our UK operations to modernise our sites and ensure that we deliver the highest standards across the board. Our aim is to set the benchmark for quality and high standards across the industry.

Strategy

The company says that its decision to rebrand is an essential part of its growth strategy. PDM Group has previously announced plans to spend 91 million on its ReFood UK operations before the end of 2014. This includes investing 44 million in new AD facilities in Widnes and Dagenham.

It also began work last month on expanding the 12 million Doncaster AD facility, which is due to be completed in the summer (see letsrecycle.com story).

Mr Simpson added: Whilst our identity will change, we are still very proud of our history. PDM has a long standing heritage and a very well established reputation for quality, reliability and performance in our sector. As we move forward, we will retain the essence of what our reputation has been built upon and work hard to maintain and further develop the very strong customer and partner relationships that we have established in the UK.

2014 will be a landmark year, with our ReFood Widnes site due to start operations and construction on our new state-of-the-art facility in Dagenham set to start in the spring. The 20m refurbishment of our key category 3 recycling facility at Hartshill is also due to complete later in the spring and upgrades to our other sites have also enhanced our facilities and capabilities across the board and giving us a strong foundation on which to build.