The end of the year is approaching and we are zooming out and in: what happened in 2024 and what do we expect for 2025? We take you along....
Wrapping up 2024
Week of the Circular Economy: During the nationally organized Week of the Circular Economy, Milgro organized an Open Day. Through the theme “waste is a raw material that has lost its way,” we took the audience through how we can work together towards a sustainable circular future. In 2024, we published over 40 blogs with the circular economy as the central theme.
Visit our new office: The Belgian team grew and so we moved into a new, larger office in Merelbeke (BE). Are you in the area? You are most welcome.
The CSRD in the spotlight: In 2024, the CSRD obligation really took off. For the first group of large companies, they are already reporting on 2024. The second group, which is roughly among listed SME (small and medium-sized enterprises) companies, is preparing to report on 2025.
Milgro expanded its dashboard to include a CSRD report for its relations. Both companies that had already started, and were still looking for a modus operandi, managed to find their way to our webinars, our starter kit and step-by-step plans via our website. This way we helped more than 500 companies last year with knowledge and practical tips. Many companies also knew where to find us during the CSRD-DAY 2 in Utrecht and CSRD-Day in Nieuwegein.
Green Deal Sustainable Care: An initiative we were happy to put our signature to. Through our cooperation with Blue2Green, among others, in which we offer the healthcare industry a recycling solution for medical waste, we actively contribute to the objectives as stated in the Green Deal Sustainable Care.
Reporting, reporting, reporting: More and more companies spend a lot of time complying with all kinds of increasingly stringent sustainability and reporting requirements such as the CSRD. To support those companies, Milgro launched 2 new products. Data integration for relations of Milgro to directly integrate our dashboard data into their own systems. Which is a huge time saver for many companies. And the possibility of dashboard-only. Especially for companies that mainly need insight into waste data, supplemented with CSRD and CO2 reports.
A Zero Waste Office: Under the guise of practice what you preach, our office became completely Zero Waste during Zero Waste Week in May. We said goodbye to the residual waste bin and have been separating 98% of our waste ever since. For the remaining 2% that are difficult to separate, we introduced the waste display case. The display case serves as a conversation starter. Surely there is a recycling or reuse solution for this stream? Or can we avoid this stream? Updates from the showcase can be read in our zerowaste expert Milan's posts.
Waste Lab: To achieve our mission, the world waste-free by 2040, sharing knowledge and changing behavior is important. We contribute to this with our Waste Labs and Zero Waste workshops.
While we can retrieve a lot of information from data, sometimes it's good to have your feet in the clay. Or rather, with your head in the trash. That's what it's all about during a Waste Lab and Zero Waste workshop: literally diving into the waste. To work with clients to see how we can separate or even prevent waste even better. In addition to these workshops, throughout the year we organized interesting webinars on Waste, Zero Waste and on legislation such as the PPWR and the CSRD.
Urgency to act remains: August 1, 2024 was Earth Overshoot Day: the day of the year when mankind has consumed more natural resources worldwide than the earth can renew in that year. Our Managing Director Gijs Derks was a guest on BNR Zakendoen and discussed this with presenter Edwin Mooibroek. Listen to the entire episode of BNR via this link from 01:09 you can switch on for the story of Gijs.
Certification & awards: Milgro received the UNISTAR SDG Pioneer certificate during Voka Sustainable Business Day. This certificate is awarded to companies that have been actively implementing all United Nations SDGs for at least three years. Also this year, our name appeared on the SD400, the list that highlights the most sustainable companies in the Netherlands.
2025: A year full of possibilities:
2024 was a year of growth, innovation and collaboration. We will continue this pace in 2025 with a new focus on solutions for healthcare, education and government. The scalability of our services, which provide value for both small and large companies, including those far across borders, continues to develop in 2025.
“By focusing on source separation, we achieve more. Where 65% is the standard, we prove that 85% is achievable. This ambition can save 2 million tons of raw materials in the Benelux every year.”
Gijs Derks, Algemeen Directeur
The year 2025 will also be the year of looking wider. Beyond just CO2. And seeing the connection of objectives. By measuring not only CO2 but also the impact of waste on climate change, pollution, biodiversity and our own employees and working conditions in the value chain, we take that broad view. A view with which we are happy to help our clients by providing data and dashboards. Because in the long term, measuring across the board offers opportunities for companies to distinguish themselves with sustainable initiatives.
New certifications: Our certification offers our partners assurance that we meet strict standards of quality, sustainability and safety. That is why we are not sitting still in 2025. We start the year off right by going up for the CO2 performance ladder in January. A new ISO45001 will follow later that quarter. This system standard, in addition to our ISO9001 and ISO14001, focuses on working safely. But that's not all. We will submit our BCorp application in early 2025. We expect to receive it by the end of 2025.
Importance of AI and smart technology: AI and smart technology will become even more mainstream in 2025. This applies not only to data and service levels, such as predictive analytics and advanced chatbots, but also to operational processes. For example, we explore the use of cameras with automatic detection to reduce waste rejection and dive into the latest developments in waste management.
Speaking of AI... In a season of traditions, we bring you a special Christmas greeting. Because a by the Christmas tree is a rarity outside the world of AI. Happy holidays and on to an impactful new year!
