Rumours have been rife in recent months but now it is finalised. German waste management specialist Remondis (Lünen; www.remondis.de) will take over competitor and systems operator Duales System Holding (DSD, Cologne / Germany; www.gruener-punkt.de). The purchase agreement was signed on 27 September 2018, with the transaction subject to approval of the anti-trust authorities.

The company name and the "Green Dot" trademark will remain. The entire management of DSD will also stay on board in the long term, according to reports. Furthermore, neither job losses nor a relocation of DSD's company headquarters are planned. Instead, there will be additional investments in order to achieve the joint targets.

Together, the two companies want to optimise the recycling procedures for all material flows and extend the services portfolio. With the acquisition of DSD, Remondis will return to the "dual system" market after four years. In 2014, Remondis' subsidiary Eko-Punkt withdrew as a partner of the dual system, mainly due to constant turbulence on the German disposal market for household packaging waste and, most recently, because of a dramatic decline in the number of licences. The dual system for waste in Germany refers to the kerbside collection of household packaging materials (from manufacturers that pay the licence fee to DSD) as well as waste.

"Demand for recycled plastics will increase and, at the same time, the market will be reshuffled. We expect the acquisition to bring about an increase in the recycling of packaging, also against the background of the new packaging legislation," said Herwart Wilms, managing director of Remondis. "Together, DSD and Remondis will drive the circular economy further forward," added DSD CEO Michael Wiener. The transaction will bring a "combination of complementary strengths," and open up "sustainable growth potential." An internationally experienced service company for recycling and one of the pioneers and technology leaders in the field of plastics recycling would, he said, be pooling their know-how.

The disposal and recycling industry in Germany and Europe is facing profound changes through the ambitious political objectives of German legislation for packaging and the EU's circular economy package. Some of the largest dual system operators in terms of market share already belong to large disposal companies.

Fairly recently, there was another consolidation with the acquisition of the fifth largest recycling company in Germany, Tönsmeier (Porta Westfalica / Germany; www.toensmeier.de) by the Schwarz group with the intention of building its own dual system in Germany through its subsidiary GreenCycle (Neckarsulm / Germany; www.greencycle.de) – see Plasteurope.com of 28.08.2018.

Chinese companies had previously bought their way into the German market via German affiliates – the Alba group has been managed with Chinese involvement since 2016, namely by Chengdu Techcent Environment – see Plasteurope.com of 14.10.2016. At the same time, the market dominance of the former monopolist DSD has been very much put into perspective in the last few years. In competition with eight other dual systems, the company’s turnover is nowadays below the level of medium-sized firms in the industry and also of medium-sized municipal services, says DSD. Nevertheless, the Green Dot company is still regarded as the market leader in Germany with a market share of around 35%.

In the fields of recycling, service and water, Remondis provides services for around 25m people and processes around 30m t/y of waste materials. The family-run company, which was founded in 1934 and belongs to the Rethmann group, generated sales of around EUR 7.3 bn in 2017 with more than 32 employees and 800 sites worldwide. The Lünen-based recycling services provider is on the lookout for new acquisitions. Its most recent takeovers have been of the insolvent PET recycling company PRZ from Elsteraue / Germany and Sweden's Ad Infinitum Recycling – see Plasteurope.com of 14.06.2018.