Strategy

Van Gansewinkel Groep reviewed its strategy during 2010. Changing market conditions – caused in part by the crisis – meant that the company’s view of the market needed to be updated. This review led to confirmation of and more depth to the existing strategic principles:

1. Strengthening of position in the Benelux

Customers are focusing more and more on their core activities, encouraged by the increasing complexity of legislation and accountability.
As a consequence, they are increasingly calling on the services of parties that can supervise or take over their non-core activities. Besides operational performance, analysis, advice, monitoring and reporting are becoming more important. This presents opportunities for Van Gansewinkel Groep to expand its range of services and work more closely with customers in a growing number of business processes.

Van Gansewinkel Groep wishes to strengthen its position in the Benelux and is continually and actively on the lookout for new customers in every industry. Its large scale, wide range of services and vision with regard to waste and sustainability are what set the company apart from its competitors. In addition, over the past decades Van Gansewinkel Groep has grown rapidly through acquisitions and wishes to continue this form of expansion. Besides the potential offered by multiple small regional operators, large prospective acquisitions have also been identified.

2. Optimisation of Energy from Waste operations

Van Gansewinkel Groep generates as many raw materials as possible from waste. However, some waste is composed in such a manner that it is impossible to extract raw materials from it using existing technology. In such cases, the waste is given another useful purpose: it is incinerated and converted into (sustainable) energy. Van Gansewinkel Groep’s focus is on Energy from Waste; on generating the highest possible energy yields. Waste materials are seen as fuels that can be dosed to optimise the energy produced, in the form of steam, heat or electricity. An example is the provision of district heating. AVR, which is part of Van Gansewinkel Groep, is undergoing a transformation from a traditional waste incinerator into a supplier of sustainable energy.

3. Creation of second home market in Central and Eastern Europe

Van Gansewinkel Groep plans to develop a second home market for all its activities in Central and Eastern Europe. At present, the company already operates in the Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary. Van Gansewinkel Groep will implement the expertise in the field of waste and environmental solutions that it has acquired in the Benelux in recent years in Central and Eastern Europe. The demand for sustainable solutions to waste issues in that region is growing, and national and European environmental legislation may cause it to increase at an accelerated pace.

4. Expansion as a supplier of raw materials

The global supply of raw materials is not inexhaustible, and access to increasingly scarce materials is no longer an automatic given (also see raw materials scarcity as a business case). This is causing prices to rise and forms an incentive for innovations aimed at seeking out alternatives to scarce raw materials and reclaim materials from existing products. The volume of materials given a second life will increase.

It is Van Gansewinkel Groep’s intention to be a frontrunner in this development and to expand as a supplier of raw materials, using both its own innovative treatment and recycling plants and the services of third parties. It is setting up partnerships with customers, in which raw materials and composites of raw materials are selected during the design phase that can be reclaimed and recycled after the product has been used. The focus is on the ongoing development of four clusters of materials: biogenous materials (with biological or organic origins), metals, minerals and plastics.

In this fashion raw materials retain their value, the continued availability of raw materials is ensured and fossil exhaustion can be avoided. An understanding of materials is vital, and  Van Gansewinkel Groep will continue to invest in that area.

The expansion of these activities will mean that the recycling activities will become a more prominent component of Van Gansewinkel Groep’s portfolio, through organic growth, through Cradle to Cradle partnerships and other alliances and through acquisitions.

5. Development of new services

Van Gansewinkel Groep develops new products and services to meet the broad demand for sustainable solutions, such as:

• Materials for product specifications (raw materials that meet customers’ product specifications)
• Organisation and/or implementation of take back systems
• Development of new products, such as Van Gansewinkel Office Paper (see Cradle to Cradle)