Remeo combines intelligence with the circular economy

COMMERCIAL COOPERATION

The circular economy needs drivers. Finnish environmental service provider Remeo Oy is answering the call and making the circular economy a reality through innovation and knowledge.

Remeo is an environmental management company operating throughout Finland, with a focus on Southern Finland. The company is currently the second largest in our country by volume and its growth is accelerating: Remeo is starting to build a large and innovative material handling plant in Vantaa. Smart technology and data management will form an even larger part of the company's operations in the future.

Development is born from people. Remeo employs over 350 professionals who have a strong will to develop a growing company and the entire circular economy industry.

Started as CEO a year ago Johan Mild came to Remeo from the real estate services industry. The director responsible for material sales, who joined the company two years ago, Mauri Lielahti is responsible for the plant project planned for Vantaa. Both praise their new board members, FCG CEO Mari Puoskaria and Metsä Group's Investment Director Timo from Kari.

"We are delighted to welcome new, strong expertise and interesting new perspectives. We seek growth through innovation and the new board members are an important part of this strategy."

Mari Puoskari began her government work at the beginning of November.

“I am the CEO of Finnish Consulting Group Oy in my civilian job. I have been involved with the circular economy since my student days – I studied chemical engineering and production economics. It is relevant for Remeo that I was in the management team of Ekokem for about four years developing strategy, new businesses, acquisitions and recycling issues. My experience as the head of Pöyry's environmental business is also useful for Remeo.”

Timo Karinen has been on the Board of Directors since June. He has worked in a variety of positions, including business director in the forest industry. His work history also includes the chemical industry.

“I bring industrial and investment expertise to Remeo.”

Value chain development requires cooperation

Johan Mild describes Remeo as a practical innovator.

“We are a promoter of the circular economy on a practical level. We collect the waste and have good equipment and logistics for it. We then process the waste in our own facilities. When the waste goes through our facility, it has created raw material that we sell on. This is how the circular economy is realized. Remeo wants to be involved in all aspects of this process. In an ideal situation, the raw material ends up back at the source, i.e. the customer from whom the waste came to us.”

One illustrative example of this is Leipärinki, where Remeo has been involved for years in collecting leftover bread from bakeries and shops, which is delivered to Etanolix plants. It is used to produce ethanol for fuel. The leftover bread from the bakery can then end up back at the bakery, so that the bakery's car can run on ethanol fuel made from the bread.

Remeo's own bread collection truck also runs on this type of bread ethanol diesel in the Helsinki metropolitan area.

The birthplace thinking described by Mild will likely become even stronger in the circular economy in the coming years. Lielahti emphasizes the importance of the entire material value chain, from the design and manufacture of the original product to its sustainability and adaptability. According to him, even better cooperation is also needed to develop the material value chain. Cooperation should be carried out across borders, across industries and companies.

"This must be supported by laws and directives, but regulation must not be the only driver. In the circular economy, the rest of the word is also important. This is about making a better world, but the activity must also be economically sensible and interesting. Materials must also circulate in accordance with economic laws. The activity must also be efficient, predictable and meaningful so that people want to invest in it," Lielahti emphasizes.

Remeo circular economy to become a technological pioneer

Remeo has been innovating for years as a practical pioneer in the circular economy, Finland's most advanced recycling plant.

It is expected to see the light of day in 2021. The plant will be built in Vantaa in line with the local circular economy approach, as the largest recycling volumes are located in Southern Finland. The Vantaa recycling plant will be able to cost-effectively process different raw materials on two lines and sort them using new technology, robotics and machine intelligence.

Another innovation is the extremely efficient and intelligent collection and processing of data to serve customers by optimizing the production process.

"We use techniques and technologies that have been tried and proven to work around the world and combine them in a new and unique way to serve waste treatment processes, and thus our customers. With the help of data, we will know exactly what the material our line is processing at any given time contains. Nothing is left to chance anymore, but with the right data and the data bank that is accumulated from it, we can do things correctly, sustainably and transparently, which serves our customers and the entire environmental services value chain in a completely new way," Lielahti says.

Lielahti and Mild describe the fundamental innovation of the new Vantaa facility as the fact that they have dared to think again.

"The plant will have a modern, data-driven, and in itself normal production process. But we are bringing factory-like, smart-tech production thinking to places where it has not existed before, where sorting has traditionally been mechanical. We are taking smart technology further than others and, with smart technology, bringing waste processing into a new era."

REMEO OY

A family-owned environmental management company operating nationwide, providing waste management, material recycling and expert services. The processed materials are delivered for appropriate further processing or processing into industrial raw materials.
Turnover: 82,9 MEUR in 2018
Ownership: Hartwall Capital
Personnel: approximately 350
Websites: remeo.fi

Text and photo: Irma Capiten. Remeo Oy's CEO Johan Mild (second from right) and material sales
Managing Director Mauri Lielahti (second from left) praises the competition's fresh
its board members, FCG CEO Mari Puoskaria and Metsä Group's Chief Investment Officer
Timo from Karis.