Renewi plc is a leading

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

waste management Waste management or waste disposal includes the processes and actions required to manage waste from its inception to its final disposal. This includes the collection, transport, treatment, and disposal of waste, together with monitor ...

company operating primarily in the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

region. It is listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

and

Euronext Amsterdam Euronext Amsterdam is a stock exchange based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Formerly known as the Amsterdam Stock Exchange (), it merged on 22 September 2000 with the Brussels Stock Exchange and the Paris Stock Exchange to form Euronext. The re ...

until it was acquired by a consortium of Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7 (managed by

Macquarie Group Macquarie Group Limited (), more commonly known as Macquarie Bank, is an Australian multinational investment banking and financial services group headquartered in Sydney and listed on the ASX (). Macquarie's investment banking division is Au ...

) and BCI UK IRR (managed by

British Columbia Investment Management Corporation British Columbia Investment Management Corporation which uses the trade name BCI, is a Canadian company established by way of the 1999 ''Public Sector Pension Plans Act'' to provide investment services to British Columbia’s public sector pensi ...

) in June 2025.

History

The Company was founded by Guy Shanks and Andrew McEwan in 1880 as a construction company operating primarily in the West of

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

under the name of ''Shanks & McEwan''.Shanks Group: History
In 1988 the Company acquired London Brick Landfill and with it an enormous

landfill A landfill is a site for the disposal of waste materials. It is the oldest and most common form of waste disposal, although the systematic burial of waste with daily, intermediate and final covers only began in the 1940s. In the past, waste was ...

capacity north of

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. The Company was first listed on the

in 1988. In the mid-1990s, the Company sold its remaining construction interests to concentrate solely on waste management. In 1998 the Company went on to buy four

companies in

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

. It changed its name to ''Shanks Group'' in 1999. In March 2000, the Company bought ''Waste Management Nederland B.V.'' in the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In July 2004, the Company sold its UK landfill and

landfill gas Landfill gas is a mix of different gases created by the action of microorganisms within a landfill as they decompose organic waste, including for example, food waste and paper waste. Landfill gas is approximately forty to sixty percent methane, ...

power assets to Terra Firma. In 2006, the Company went on to buy ''Smink Beheer B.V.'' in the

for

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

62m. In September 2016, the company reached an agreement to buy the Dutch recycling firm Van Gansewinkel Groep BV for €432 million as part of a merger that, upon completion on 28 February 2017, created to newly rebranded Renewi plc. In 2019, as part of a strategy to focus the business on its core operations and regions, the company sold its Canadian operations to Convent Capital and its Reym-branded industrial cleaning business to

Remondis Remondis is German multinational company for recycling, water resource management and industrial and communal services with headquarters in Lünen Lünen () is a town with around 86,000 inhabitants in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is loc ...

. In February 2025, a consortium of Macquarie European Infrastructure Fund 7 (managed by

) and BCI UK IRR (managed by

) made an offer worth £707 million to acquire the company. The court approved the proposal on 4 June 2025, so allowing the transaction to be completed.

Operations

The company's current operations are concentrated within the following three countries: * UK: activities include long term local authority

municipal solid waste Municipal solid waste (MSW), commonly known as trash or garbage in the American English, United States and rubbish in British English, Britain, is a List of waste types, waste type consisting of everyday items that are discarded by the public. ...

(MSW) contracts, the anaerobic digestion of food waste, and the production of lower-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels. *

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

: activities include collections, sorting and processing, re-use and

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. This concept often includes the recovery of energy from waste materials. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the propert ...

, soil cleaning,

composting Compost is a mixture of ingredients used as plant fertilizer and to improve soil's physical, chemical, and biological properties. It is commonly prepared by Decomposition, decomposing plant and food waste, recycling organic materials, and man ...

refuse-derived fuel Refuse-derived fuel (RDF) is a Waste-to-energy, fuel produced from various types of waste such as municipal solid waste (MSW), industrial waste or commercial waste. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development provides a definition: ' ...

production and industrial cleaning. *

: activities include collections, recycling, soil cleaning, refuse-derived fuel production, waste treatment and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

Wallonia Wallonia ( ; ; or ), officially the Walloon Region ( ; ), is one of the three communities, regions and language areas of Belgium, regions of Belgium—along with Flemish Region, Flanders and Brussels. Covering the southern portion of the c ...

, and

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

References

External links

Official site
{{Authority control Service companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange Construction and civil engineering companies of the United Kingdom Waste management companies of the United Kingdom Companies based in Milton Keynes British companies established in 1880 Private equity portfolio companies 1880 establishments in England Construction and civil engineering companies established in 1880