91 Jobs at Risk at Belgian Waste Processor Renewi

Waste processing company Renewi has announced a restructuring plan that could put 91 administrative jobs at risk in Belgium, according to VRT NWS. The announcement was made during a special works council meeting held in Vilvoorde on the morning of August 19, 2026, and confirmed by both unions and management.

Context

Renewi is the market leader in Belgium for collecting and recycling business waste, employing approximately 2,000 people across various locations in the country. The threatened positions are administrative roles, representing roughly 91 of the about 800 administrative employees currently working for the company in Belgium.

The company, which was created in 2017 from the merger of Shanks Group and Van Gansewinkel Groep, operates from 154 locations across five European countries and employs approximately 6,465 people group-wide, according to Dutch Wikipedia.

The Transformation Plan

At the special works council meeting, Renewi presented a transformation plan outlining a new organizational structure that could lead to job losses. Company spokesperson Thibault Bricteux confirmed that Renewi wants to implement the new structure but emphasized that the figure of 91 represents an indicative maximum.

“It concerns several dozen, 91 is an indicative maximum,” Bricteux said. “We aim to keep this number to a minimum.”

Elke Gelens, secretary of the ACV Puls union, said the union was informed that management is hopeful many of the threatened positions could be reoriented rather than eliminated. “We have been told that management is hopeful that many of those threatened positions can be reoriented,” Gelens said. “We hope they can actually make good on that statement.”

Recent Corporate History

The restructuring comes approximately 14 months after Renewi was acquired by a consortium led by Macquarie Asset Management and British Columbia Investment Management Corporation (BCI) for €840 million. The takeover was completed on June 6, 2025, and the company’s share listing on stock exchanges was terminated two days later, as documented on English Wikipedia.

Harld Peters became CEO on July 1, 2025, succeeding Otto de Bont, and Paul Mitchner took over as chairman. The new ownership appears to be implementing organizational changes across the company.

This is not the first restructuring at Renewi. In 2023, the company announced it would cut 160 jobs, primarily in its business waste division in the Netherlands, due to lower waste volumes and a profit decline as part of a €15 million cost-saving program.

Analysis

The threatened positions represent approximately 11 percent of Renewi’s administrative workforce in Belgium, though the company stresses that the final number of job losses could be significantly lower if reorientation efforts succeed.

The restructuring fits a broader pattern of workforce reductions across the Belgian economy in 2026, with several companies announcing job cuts in various sectors. It also reflects the ongoing integration and optimization efforts under Renewi’s new ownership structure, as the company seeks to streamline its operations following the Macquarie-led acquisition.

According to the company’s official website, Renewi positions itself as a leading waste-to-product company in Europe’s most advanced circular economies, contributing to a more sustainable society for all stakeholders.

What’s Next

The coming weeks will be critical as Renewi and the unions negotiate the details of the transformation plan. Key questions remain about which specific departments will be most affected, whether the restructuring will extend beyond administrative roles, and whether a collective redundancy procedure will be initiated under Belgian law.

For the approximately 800 administrative employees at Renewi in Belgium, the uncertainty is palpable. The union’s cautious optimism about reorientation opportunities reflects a hope that the final impact on jobs may be less severe than initially feared — but as Gelens noted, the proof will be in whether management can deliver on its promises.