Swiss construction materials group Holcim has acquired the Belgian firm Mark Desmedt, a recycler of construction and demolition waste. The deal announced on 8 July represents the latest step in Holcim’s planned expansion in the areas of construction materials recycling, which was announced in early 2024. Mark Desmedt was founded in 1989 and is "a leading company in the recycling of construction demolition materials in Belgium", recycling around 500,000 tpa in the Brussels and Antwerp regions, according to Holcim. No details about the purchase price were released.
According to Holcim’s sustainability strategy "Accelerating Green Growth", released in late 2021, the group aims to recycle around 10 million tpa of construction and demolition waste in its products by 2025. In pursuit of this goal, the Swiss group has made a number of acquisitions this year. The purchase of Mark Desmedt is already its fourth deal in the circular construction sector in 2024: At the start of the year, Holcim bought German company Medinger Basalt, which operates two production sites for natural stone as well as a recycling centre processing soil and mineral demolition material in Mendig, in the state of Rhineland-Palatinate.
This was followed by the acquisition of British rail ballast recycling firm Land Recovery last month. The British company and its 85 employees had recycled more than 300,000 tonnes of material in 2023 and would expand the range of circular building solutions Holcim offered in the UK, the group said. In June, Holcim also announced the purchase Cand-Landi group, a recycling and waste management firm active in the French-speaking western part of Switzerland. It has 250 employees and generates annual revenues of around CHF70m, Holcim announced at the end of June. This acquisition would "accelerate decarbonisation at Holcim’s Eclépens plant by providing new sources of alternative raw materials and alternative fuels," Holcim said at the time. It also increases Holcim’s capacity for recycling of construction demolition materials by 100,000 tpa.
