ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN A CHANGING WORLD DIGITAL REPORT 2021
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ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES IN A CHANGING WORLD
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Ragn-Sells has been a trailblazer for environmental services, waste management and recycling for decades. It has always been primarily motivated by the opportunity to make a positive difference, and – at this moment in time – its enduring ethos has never been more relevant
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bove all, Ragn-Sells is a company way ahead of its time. It has to be. While we have all been immersed in the trappings of ownership, comfort and a single-use ‘utopia’, this intrepid Swedish company has been a standout leader in managing the fall out from globalisation. When you have developing countries and a broadening of the ‘civilised world’, there are always byproducts – figuratively and literally. On the one hand, there is the greater sense of parity, opportunity and wealth that comes with industrialisation, but on the other, there is the ubiquitous reality of waste on an industrial scale. It is impossible to have one without the other and, for almost 150 years, Ragn-Sells has been reconciled to this inconvenient truth and determined to address it. Indeed, when most of the human race really started demanding more, wanting a greater stake in the highly seductive transactional ecosystem, there weren’t many dissenting voices asking, “who’s going to clear up the mess afterwards?” Affordability and availability have been rampant since the 1960s, and the company has been in a constant cycle of reinvention. It’s fair to say that long before the documentaries about the destructive patterns of manufacturing and the cyclone of mass consumerism, Ragn-Sells was forming strategies, finding ways and peering ragnsells.com
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Ragn-Sells - No time to waste in the circle of life
into the very future we are now experiencing. Since 2015, it has taken waste management to the next level, led by a visionary whose stance on sustainability has been a life’s work.
food production, transformed approaches to climate change, encouraged the employment of people with disabilities (not to tick In the next ten boxes but to improve performance) years, Ragn-Sells will reduce its own and pioneered the use of carbonclimate emissions by labelled food products. Pär excellence When he arrived at Ragn-Sells, the It will, perhaps, come as no great term ‘green credentials’ was creeping surprise that Pär Larshans – Environmental its way up the agenda of the corporate Director of Sustainability at Ragn-Sells – world, and Pär was determined to take the considers water to be his favourite drink. opportunity to evolve the company, crystalise Indeed, this insatiable thirst for purity defines its reputation as a sustainability champion and the company, its principles and, of course, its fast track waste management innovation. enduring ethos – to combine sound business “At the time, we saw that the world was practices with the challenge of improving the transforming at a rapid pace,” he reflects. planet. Pär’s modus operandi is to espouse “Even though we had been in operation stark truths and deliver transformative since 1881, it was clear that we would have solutions. It’s food for thought, which takes to change and become a frame of reference us to exactly how he developed his appetite. to everyone else. Transporting waste wasn’t Prior to making the move, Pär had a hugely good enough anymore, because we were successful stint at a fast-food company, going from linear to circular, and that during which he championed ethical means no waste at all. Subsequently, all the
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PÄR LARSHANS TITLE: ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY COMPANY: RAGN-SELLS INDUSTRY: WASTE MANAGEMENT Pär Larshans is Head of Sustainability and Public Affairs at Ragn-Sells, a family-owned business, which is active in four countries with recycling but with potential for a world market for extraction and reuse of nutrients from waste, such as fly ash and sludge. In July 2018, Ragn-Sells' contribution to society was honoured to be one of four business examples, symbolizing innovation and leadership, presenting at the High-Level Political Forum Business day at UN in New York.
“ TRANSPORTING WASTE WASN’T GOOD ENOUGH ANYMORE BECAUSE WE WERE GOING FROM LINEAR TO CIRCULAR, AND THAT MEANS NO WASTE AT ALL” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS
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“ BUSINESSES REALLY NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT IF YOU'RE NOT DOING THE RIGHT THING – IF YOU DON'T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY – THE CONSUMER WILL HATE YOU” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS
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new innovations we had been developing suddenly became a genuine possibility.” World in motion As the world has started to accept the considerable challenges ahead, individuals and companies have thus started wrestling with their responsibilities when it comes to climate change and the environment. Consequently, Ragn-Sells's waste management operations, recycling processes and wider environmental services have increased exponentially, ushering in a new phase of evolution.
RAGN - SELLS
1881
Year Founded
2000-5000 Number of Employees
Waste Management Industry
$6.6bn Revenue SEK
Pär has witnessed the sudden change in approach among companies and believes it will lead to a positive cultural shift in the perception of sustainability. “The world is getting more transparent, and businesses really need to understand that if you're not doing the right thing – if you don't take responsibility – the consumer will hate you. If, however, you make mistakes, confess to them and make sure that you reverse them, your reputation will be greatly enhanced. I have seen that sustainable companies which contribute to the best of society are always rewarded.”
Pär is very candid about what happens to companies who insist on burying their heads (or anything else) in the sand. He explains: “In Sweden, we have had many scandals. Police have even thrown company executives in jail because of how they treat waste. It demonstrates that you need to take responsibility – upstream and downstream – and there are no longer any excuses.” On a broader scale, Pär has seen a positive global awakening in the last couple of years as more information and footage has emerged of irresponsible waste removal. Pollution and plastics in the ocean – images ragnsells.com
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“ THE PLANET ALWAYS COMES FIRST – THAT’S WHY WE ALWAYS OFFER OUR CUSTOMERS A MORE CIRCULAR WAY TO MEET THEIR OBLIGATIONS” PÄR LARSHANS, ENVIRONMENTAL DIRECTOR OF SUSTAINABILITY, RAGN-SELLS
that have come to define the current crisis – have been a stark and inescapable wake-up call to everyone. It has triggered a behavioural reboot, with companies becoming more conscious of the need for transparency and how a lack of social responsibility could very easily be shamed across social media and news agencies. Pär believes that the myriad opportunities there are to communicate and share experiences have increased through digital channels, and there is a genuine opportunity to change the ‘rules’ of waste management and supercharge the knowledge base among companies while also setting new benchmarks in the process. The employment of dedicated sustainability personnel can only ignite this movement further. Keeping it real To ‘clean up’ the system is to be part of that system, and Pär knows that combining green credentials with a business philosophy is an equilibrium that can be effectively calibrated. He insists: “We want to be a company that cares for the environment but, of course, that also means making a profit. 10
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The planet always comes first, however, and we don’t just want to meet environmental laws; we want to exceed them. That’s why we always offer our customers a more circular way to meet their obligations.” The progress of Ragn-Sells has not just been about listening to and digesting the external narratives around climate change but, most importantly, ensuring a commitment from within the company through an internal pledge to take the company in new directions. Subsequently,
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a pervasive concept of and another, specialising in detoxification, not just of waste calcium carbonate by using CO2 but of conscience, has defined the as an input in the process, is due to new culture, flowing through the be built in Estonia. All have been Ragn-Sells will have a fully collaborative company and culminating in an receiving interest from around the culture by empowering paradigm. world. Meanwhile, Ragn-Sells’s The company’s global network system for extracting nitrogen of factories, showcasing wideout of wastewater and avoiding ranging processes, has been vital to new emissions to atmosphere has also captured growth within the company. Currently, the attention of commercial stakeholders there is a factory for processing potassium keen to ‘clean up’ the water-based stages in Stockholm, two systems for phosphorus, of their operations.
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“When others talk about CO2 as a problem, we see it as a possibility. The threat of global Ragn-Sells will start warming is our best generating calcium carbonate by adding business driver” says Pär. CO2 into ashes Ragn-Sells innovation, produced since the which will be used in Estonia to produce and stockpiled in calcium carbonate, has ash mountains the potential to reduce our global emissions until year 2070 with in total 400 million tons of CO2e.
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Tomorrow people As the company moves at pace in an unpredictable world, it also creates the foundation for a future in which employees can be flexible, embrace innovation and negotiate the terrain ahead with confidence. “It is vital that we have younger people within the organisation,” says Pär. “Now we have several trainee programmes with engineers starting every year.” “Historically, this has been a maledominated industry, but we want to keep increasing the number of women at senior level. In terms of truck drivers, which is still a big part of the business, we employ people from more than 40 different nationalities, from a host of different backgrounds. Diversity must be at the heart of everything we do.” With this in mind, partnership at Ragn-Sells is a crucial plot point on the environmental responsibility roadmap. The company has discovered that the key component when it comes to reaching a truly circular economy is the ability to collaborate and create partnerships. “If you try to win 100% by yourself, you will lose,” warns Pär. “When we're opening up companies for wastewater treatment plants, it is essential to create partnerships. One of our 12
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partners – BIOFOSs – is involved with us in the development of a nitrogen removal solution, and another, Alfa Laval, is our technical partner in the development of both the nitrogen and the phosphorus extraction solution.” Always have Paris Following the Paris Agreement, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) came into sharp focus, and at Ragn-Sells it was no different. “I was extremely happy when the Paris Agreement was signed,” enthuses Pär. “It became the standard-bearer for our business development.” Ragn-Sells is determined to become ‘climate positive’ – in many ways the ultimate SDG. That means reducing its own emissions by at least 50% and, at the same time, developing solutions that will reduce the carbon emissions more than the total it emits. In 2018, the company became a heralded ‘Innovation of Leadership’ company for SDGs and were invited to the UN in New York to deliver a presentation on how it has reached its targets. While Ragn-Sells continues to extract, recycle and re-energise across it’s Promised Land of waste management and environmental services, it knows that it is not good enough just to ‘seize the day’ – it’s commitment is to keep raising the bar; keep pushing the boundaries and not stop until waste hits 0%. “In the circular world of tomorrow we are a raw material producer and a detoxifier,” adds Pär. Ultimately, the company’s enduring challenge is to convince more people that taking responsibility is a journey without end but also one with unlimited reserves of satisfaction. It is, in a very real sense, the circle of life.
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