International resource management company Geminor achieved all-time high volumes within its waste-for-energy recovery and material recycling activities in Europe in 2020. The company is once again the biggest exporter of refuse-derived fuel (RDF) from England.

Despite the on-going Covid-19 challenges, 2020 was an unexpectedly good year for resource management company Geminor. http://geminor.no The Norway-headquartered company increased treatment and handling of waste fractions for recycling and recovery by more than 300,000 tonnes over the year, to achieve a total of 1,733 000 tonnes in 2020 – a 21-per-cent increase. Simultaneously, the company turnover increased by 29 per cent to €155 million in 2020.

Indeed, according to Geminor’s CEO, Kjetil Vikingstad, the pandemic has not affected the industry as badly as once feared: “In April last year, I had very little faith in a record result for 2020, and from then on it was all about making the best of the situation,” he told us. “A more stable market towards the end of the year assisted in making this record possible.”

Biggest RDF exporter in England

For the third year in a row, Geminor also became the largest exporter of RDF from England, with a total of 248,315 tonnes in 2020. The company maintained its leading position in a declining UK export market – one of the clearest consequences of the Covid pandemic for the industry in Europe.

“Export volumes of waste from the UK and Finland fell in 2020, but apart from this, we had growth in all of the European markets we operate in. The Norwegian market grew by 10 per cent from 2019, and we doubled our volumes in Denmark last year,” reported Mr Vikingstad.

“The most important reason for the growth in volumes is our entry into new markets, with new offices in Poland, France, and Italy. At the same time, the acquisition of the Norwegian recycling company Rekom has increased our total volume for 2020,” he added. 

More waste-to-material recycling

The proportion of waste for material recycling also increased significantly for Geminor in 2020.

“In 2017, none of the waste we handled went to material recycling,” advised Mr Vikingstad. “Last year we landed a total of 140,000 tonnes – 90,000 of this was waste wood, which mainly was treated and delivered for the production of panel-boards. In 2020, we also delivered 50,000 tonnes of paper for recycling,” he told us.

“Chemical recycling of waste plastics will also become increasingly important in the future. Plastics, waste wood and paper will in total amount to one million tonnes for Geminor over the coming three-year period,” concluded Geminor’s CEO.

Geminor has logistic hubs and offices in Scandinavia, Finland, UK, Germany, France, Poland, and Italy, and employs 80 professionals. The company currently holds contracts with more than 350 waste producers and 180 waste-to-energy and recycling facilities across Europe.