The facility in Wavendon will house Renewi’s office-based staff and was opened by the mayor of Milton Keynes, Councillor Amanda Marlow.
Renewi, which was formed in 2017 following the merger of Shanks and the Van Gansewinkel Groep, operates in six countries and runs 24 waste treatment facilities for UK councils. This includes East London, Wakefield and Barnsley/Doncaster/Rotherham.
While noting that the UK is a challenging market, Annemieke den Otter, chief financial officer at the company, said the move shows the company is willing to invest in its staff.
She said: “We are pleased we now have a really nice place for all our office-based staff to work in. Our work in the UK is not always the easiest but that does not mean we do not want to take good care of our people.
“We are grateful to have such a great team who will now be able to work even better in this office. I want to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone and I hope you have a fantastic time here. I am really impressed with the work we are doing and I wish everyone a very enjoyable future here.”
Milton Keynes
The move to the Wavendon HQ marks Renewi’s move from its previous office in the area.
Speaking to attendees at the event, Otto de Bont, chief executive officer at Renewi, said: “When I started here five or six years ago and came to our previous base, I was not overly impressed with our UK HQ. Milton Keynes is a great place and Renewi, as a European waste to product company, has the ambition to play across Europe.
“Our ambition is to bring knowledge and experience to other countries across Europe to the UK. We now have more financial strength and capabilities to start that journey.”
Expansion
In an interview with letsrecycle.com at the opening, Mr de Bont and James Priestley, managing director of the UK specialities division, spoke about the company’s plans for the UK. While the company is ready to invest in facilities, this can only be done “if the taxonomy and legislation is correct”. The pair called for government to provide “clarity” on its plans for the waste sector to enable this investment to take place.
The company posted a €9.2 million (£7.9 million) loss on its UK municipal contracts in its 2021/22 financial results last year, down from a £16.5 million loss the previous year. However, the company says it is “committed” to the UK and is confident the legislative framework the government is rolling out will enable it to invest and return to profit.
“The opening of this site is a sign we are here to stay,” Mr de Bont said.
He added: “We see the UK is moving towards what we see in the Benelux. There we are a market leader. This allows us to sit close to governments, be a part of ideas to drive the circular economy and working close together helps to define the next steps in our journey.
“We are here already with 600 people, largely focusing on municipal. This is the most difficult as a lot of material is thrown together, which makes it hard to generate quality. But, in the UK the government has an ambitious strategy and had adopted a long-term vision, which includes separating waste streams at home, and offices.
“If that happens, which we presume it will, this will allow us to take steps in the UK. We have taken UK staff to our sites in the Netherlands to show what is possible. In Wakefield, they hope that with the new legislation this will be able to be implemented there.
“We hope to convince people that we are the right people to partner with. We are working on creating secondary materials and we want to continue that journey in the UK, and this HQ is clearly an area and a place we can get together, bring in potential customers to help us on this journey.”
The opening of this site is a sign we are here to stay
- Otto de Bont, Renewi
Clarity
Much of this expansion however is dependent on central government delivering on waste reforms, bringing much needed “clarity”.
Mr Priestly explained: “In a multi-national business we have many markets to look at, and it would be nice to have some clarity in the UK as to what is happening and when to drive investment decisions.
“We believe this is happening, but it would be nice if the reforms could be delivered so we have this clarity. If we get this, we can put things in place to invest.”
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