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Dear Readers!
“We are made wise not by the recollection of our past but by the responsibility for our future.” This piece of wisdom was uttered by the great Irish author George Bernard Shaw and it would certainly appear to be true looking at the challenges that humans are having to face today: the need to protect the environment and prevent climate change, to supply sufficient quantities of food and raw materials but to conserve our planet’s natural resources at the same time. Taking on responsibility for the future means nothing less than acting and doing business in a responsible way today so that future generations have a world that they are able to live in. Being a family-run company that is committed to sustainability in each and every sector it operates in, this is exactly what we intend to do. We have, therefore, added a new slogan to reflect this mission:
From now on, the REMONDIS logo will appear together with the strapline ‘Working for the future’. This is not some empty promise: every day, the 30,000+ people working for REMONDIS prove this is the case by collecting, sorting and processing recyclables, by ensuring our soils are clean and full of nutrients, by supplying water and treating wastewater, by generating sustainable biogas and energy and by carrying out joint public-private sector work to keep cities clean and roads safe. REMONDIS is, therefore, working for the future right now so that our children and their descendants have urban areas and indeed a planet that are worth living in. The present gives us the opportunity to change – and change is definitely what is needed if we wish to shape the future.One example in the Netherlands clearly shows that our neighbours are also thinking of the future. When a Dutch municipal company sells all its commercial activities to REMONDIS, it is certainly worth asking why they decided to do this. In an interview with REMONDIS aktuell, ROVA managing director Hans Groenhuis explains how European public procurement law determines whether a company can be awarded an “in-house contract” and why it is advisable for local authorities throughout Europe to think about giving up their commercial activities altogether.
Just how satisfied are our public sector customers and what can REMONDIS do to further improve the way it supports local authorities to provide public services? We wanted to hear details here and so we asked them. The results of the customer survey, which was carried out by an independent institute on behalf of REMONDIS, are both encouraging and an incentive at the same time. It is certainly good news when not only our regular customers express their great satisfaction with the company but also the overwhelming majority of our past customers who could well imagine working together with REMONDIS again in the future. We will not, however, be sitting back on our laurels. There is always room for improvement when it comes to serving local inhabitants. REMONDIS will be doing everything in its power to optimise its portfolio and to provide both its contractual partners and those receiving its services with the best possible solutions at fair and favourable conditions. Working for people. Working for the future.
I hope you enjoy reading this edition of REMONDIS aktuell.
Yours
Thomas Conzendorf
Exemplary recycling rates for cooling appliances
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UFH RE-cycling is celebrating a further milestone: its recycling facility has now treated one million cooling devices. At its dismantling centre in Kematen/Ypps in Lower Austria, the company continues – as always – to use exemplary technological methods and to achieve recycling rates that go far beyond the targets set by the Government.
Strict standards skilfully met
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Cooling devices must be dismantled professionally to help prevent climate change
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Specialist know-how is needed to recycle cooling appliances as the mixtures of oil and refrigerants in the fridges etc are particularly hazardous: what, in the past, helps temperatures to be kept low so that food remains fresh can have the exact opposite effect on the climate in the future – if they are not recycled correctly. At their joint venture, UFH RE-cycling GmbH, REMONDIS and UFH Holding GmbH, a leading Austrian collection and recycling system for WEEE, have shown that they are more than capable of carrying out this task.
With its extensive recycling capacities, UFH RE-cycling is making a significant contribution to preventing climate change in Austria.
Recycling rates above 80 percent
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Using a three-shift system, UFH RE-cycling processes up to 1,200 discarded cooling appliances a day. Their high levels of expertise are reflected in each of the different stages of the treatment process – from suctioning off the refrigerant mixture, which is so damaging to our climate, and ensuring it is disposed of correctly, to recovering and separating the recyclable materials. The technology used at the facility is also setting the standards as no other plant has such a state-of-the-art system. Thanks to the gas-tight set-up used, CFC particles are unable to escape into the atmosphere. Moreover, the plant employs the so-called cryocondensation process which allows appliances that contain CFCs to be dismantled at the same time as appliances without CFCs. The facility can, therefore, react flexibly no matter what type of cooling device is delivered to its centre. The recycling rates at Kematen for materials such as aluminium, iron, copper and plastics currently lie at 95 percent way – above the obligatory Austrian rates of 80 percent.
The facility’s efforts to protect the climate are also impressive. Thanks to the professional dismantling processes used, emissions of CO2 equivalents are reduced by up to three tonnes for each old fridge containing CFCs that passes through its doors. Looking at the negative effect this would have on the climate, that is the equivalent of the CO2 emissions of a car that is driven for 20,000 kilometres a year.