Since the beginning of the year, the Ingredients & Energy teams have conducted a comprehensive strategy process, bringing together countries, business units and functions. You find the backstory here. The goal: positioning SARIA Ingredients & Energy for further growth.

This process generated a range of strategic focus topics at both the local (for individual business units and countries) and divisional levels, which have been clustered into seven strategic priorities that will guide the division’s future development.

7 Strategic Priorities

• Power the core
  Strengthen and streamline the core business — stop non-performing activities, automate where feasible, and run operations more efficiently every day.

• Own our markets
  Aim to lead — achieve #1 or #2 positions in target markets, build strong partnerships and proactively drive market consolidation.

• Drive carbon down
  Reduce emissions and energy costs — target a 32% CO₂ reduction and millions in savings to make the business greener and leaner.

• Expand our value chain
  Move beyond existing products by adding new technologies, solutions and product offerings that strengthen the division’s role in the value chain.

• Open new horizons
  Target growth in five key regions across five continents to broaden the current, primarily European, footprint.

• Lead with safety
  Prioritize safety with a clear ambition: a 10% year-on-year reduction in serious injuries and, ultimately, zero accidents.

• Activate our DNA
  Develop people and culture — build leadership, retain top talent, and use data to make informed decisions.

What’s next: from vision to action

With the strategy defined, the next step is implementation. Over the coming weeks, Managing Directors will share how the priorities are being mapped in each country, business unit, and function. Projects will be timed, supported by CAPEX, incorporated into budgets, and prepared for roll-out.

And this is where you come in: everyone has a role to play in turning this strategy into reality. Together, these seven headlines will be translated into measurable results – step by step, day by day.

The ReFood organizations in Germany and France are combined under the leadership of Franz-Bernhard Thier.  As new Managing Director (MD) of SARIA Germany, Christian Stehmann is focusing on the rendering business in Germany.

MD for SARIA Germany

Christian Stehmann took over responsibility for SARIA Germany on July 1, 2025 as new Managing Director. He succeeds Franz-Bernhard Thier, who managed the company’s activities in this role for many years. Christian is currently Regional Managing Director for Southern and Eastern Europe in the Ingredients & Energy division. In his new he will lead the Management Board for SARIA Germany.

Joint ReFood organizations in Germany and France

To establish a clear direction and pool many years of experience and expertise in the collection and reuse of food leftovers, the ReFood organizations—including the ReFood subsidiary GERLICHER—are being united in France and Germany. Franz-Bernhard Thier will take over the management of this task by January 2026 at the latest. He will step down as a member of the SARIA Executive Board and from the management of ReFood Germany on December 31, 2025. In his new role, he will serve as authorized Senior Advisor to the Executive Board and the Rethmann family from January 1, 2026. Together with the ReFood management teams, he will now define the new organizational structure and implement it in the coming months, by the end of 2025 at the latest.

ReFood business in other countries

The ReFood business in the other countries remains unaffected by this change: ReFood Poland remains under the responsibility of Christian Stehmann and the local management team, ReFood Spain remains with Emmanuel Layous and the Spanish team, and the UK and Daka remain with Lars Krause-Kjær and the teams in England and Denmark respectively.

Health & Safety is not merely a policy or checklist; it represents a collective commitment to safeguarding employees, colleagues, and the workplace. The fundamental goal underlying all efforts is ensuring that everyone returns home safely every day.

Divisional Health & Safety Campaign

Employees across SARIA Ingredients & Energy work together to eliminate accidents at all sites and offices. To support this objective, teams dedicate 5 minutes before daily briefings, check-ins, or organizational meetings to conduct brief, focused safety moments centered on relevant topics. This routine practice has proven to significantly enhance workplace safety. To facilitate this initiative, the Health & Safety Community has established a dedicated page on Connect: Health & Safety – I&E, providing inspiration and practical tools.

Topic of the month

The Connect Page Health & Safety – I&E is intended to assist teams in creating effective safety moments that promote awareness and accountability. Each month features a topic, supplemented with data, facts, and actionable insights. For the month of September, the Health & Safety Community highlights the theme of ‘Taking Responsibility’. Safety isn’t someone else’s job. It’s yours. It’s mine. It’s ours. Every time you act with safety in mind, you protect yourself and your team. Responsibility means being accountable for your actions. Unsafe behavior affects the whole team. Taking ownership helps prevent incidents before they happen.

Material is being prepared for the upcoming topics of the month, which will be displayed at the locations. Stay tuned.

Commitment to zero accidents

Zero accidents isn’t just a goal, it’s a promise we make to ourselves and each other. When we take responsibility for safety, we protect not only our own lives but also the well-being of our teammates. Every choice matters, and together, we can make sure everyone goes home safe, every single day.

Daka Denmark has published its 2024 sustainability report, highlighting how structured ESG efforts are becoming an integral part of business operations and risk management.

Governance as a foundation for progress

In 2024, Daka Denmark conducted its first double materiality assessment to map the company’s key sustainability risks and opportunities. Although not subject to mandatory EU reporting under CSRD, Daka proactively uses the method to create strategic clarity and align internal priorities.

“It’s about understanding where our impact matters most – and where we are most exposed,” says Rikke Klitgaard Friis, Director – Business Development & Sustainability at Daka. “It gives us a stronger foundation for making informed decisions across the company.”

Focus on culture, safety, and operational stability

Occupational safety has remained a key focus in 2024, supported by new policies, leadership attention, and awareness campaigns. The goal is to build a safety culture that goes beyond compliance and becomes part of daily operations. At the same time, cybersecurity has moved higher on the agenda. Daka has taken steps to strengthen internal systems and prepare for upcoming EU legislation such as NIS2.

“Security is no longer just an IT issue,” says CFO Kasper Holm. “It’s a core part of ensuring stable operations and protecting our business. We continuously work to improve systems, processes, and internal awareness.”

Clear reporting supports transparency and internal alignment

The 2024 sustainability report covers all major aspects of the company’s ESG efforts – from operations and governance to risk and compliance. It is also used as a tool for internal alignment, helping the organization connect strategic goals with daily practice.

The full report is available here.

SecAnim is taking an important step toward the future at its Lünen site. By investing in a new, energy-efficient drying system, the potential of Category 1 and Category 2 animal by-products is being optimally exploited to make them usable in a meaningful way, in line with the principles of the circular economy. Here, energy-efficient production processes meet economic development.

Initial situation

The Lippe plant of SARIA’s sister company REMONDIS in Lünen hosts Europe’s largest industrial recycling center. In addition to an ecoMotion site, a SecAnim processing center is also located there.

Until now, the SecAnim site did not have a drying process for raw material processing. After pressure sterilization of the potentially hazardous material, it was separated into animal fat and defatted meat pulp using a decanter centrifuge. The fat is forwarded to the neighboring ecoMotion site as a raw material for biofuel production, while the meat pulp was transferred to the REMONDIS power plant on site to be burned.

Technical problems at the power plant delayed the burning of the meat pulp, leading to longer production stoppages at SecAnim. Additionally, the prices for animal meal provided a more economical alternative to the high burning costs. As a result, in early 2022, the decision was made to install an energy-efficient drying system.

Process expansion and conversion

After pressure sterilization, the delivered raw material is separated into a solid and a liquid fraction in addition to the fat phase using a Trikanter centrifuge in the new process flow. Compared to the previous process, this now also produces so-called ‘glue water’, which is concentrated via a newly installed evaporation plant. This evaporation plant is particularly energy-efficient because it reuses vapor from the downstream disc dryer.

The liquid fraction is dried in the newly installed disc dryers. The resulting dry material is then processed into animal meal in a grinding unit. Despite pressure sterilization, legislation requires thermal use of the animal meal because it originates from potential risk material. The cement industry is the customer, using the animal meal as a CO₂-neutral fuel alternative to lignite dust.

In addition to the evaporation plant and the two disc dryers, a new meal loading hall, an animal meal silo, a wastewater treatment plant, and a chemical scrubber for exhaust air purification were installed at the SecAnim site.

Project scope and inauguration

The new process technology, with an investment cost of over €16 million, has been in operation since July. The official inauguration of the plant for the public is planned for the beginning of next year.

The recent merger of Bioceval and Sonefa’s operations in France offers the perfect opportunity to shine a spotlight on a unique business — rooted in France but making waves well beyond its borders in both the fishing and pharmaceutical sectors.

A clever invention from Brittany

It all began in 2001, in Brittany, with an invention as ingenious as it was effective: a small sausage made from a blend of fish and shellfish by-products — simply irresistible to whelks. This patented innovation quickly established Sonefa as a household name in the French bait market.

From local leader to national benchmark

Just over 20 years later, Sonefa is now the national leader in its field. Each day, David Louarn, the company’s director, and his 13 team members work diligently to transport tons of fish and shellfish from the local fish markets to produce bait — not only for whelks, but also for octopus, whose presence is growing along the Brittany coast.

This activity indirectly supports pot fishing, one of the most sustainable fishing methods. Over time, Sonefa has expanded its operations, also specializing in the resale of stingray cartilage — a commodity in high demand within the pharmaceutical industry. “Today, we are one of only two companies offering stingray cartilage, which is highly sought after for the manufacture of food supplements,” explains David Louarn.

Business as usual with new horizons

Sonefa’s mission remains unchanged: to find the most effective ways to add value to raw materials before they are converted into meal or oil. The merger with Bioceval hasn’t altered the day-to-day work of the teams or the company’s operational focus. Rather, it represents the next chapter in the evolution of a company that, quietly but confidently, continues to break new ground.

The new site of ReFood in Eltmann, a town in the north of Bavaria, was officially inaugurated on August 14, 2025, after less than 13 months of construction.

Opening ceremony and background

The opening ceremony was attended by political authorities and SARIA board members Tim Schwencke and Franz-Bernhard Thier. Norbert Rethmann, Honorary Chairman of the Supervisory Board of the RETHMANN Group, was also present and emphasized the importance of long-term partnerships in his speech: “Consistent and cooperative partnerships are the basis for regional economic cycles with substance and sustainable success. ReFood and the city of Eltmann are proof of this.”

ReFood has had a site in the region since 2007. To reach customers even faster in the future, ReFood decided to give up its outdated location in Eltmann-Limbach and move to the industrial area with direct highway access. Over the past 13 months, a new office and social building for the 35 employees and a modern production hall have been built on the new site.

ReFood in Germany

Two further new sites are currently being built in Memmingen and Zörbig. Memmingen will be a completely new location, while the site in Zörbig will replace the old location in Landsberg. ReFood currently has a total of 22 branches and five biogas plants in Germany. Four locations also have state-of-the-art  depacking centers to process packaged and unpackaged food and food leftovers separately – find out more here.

Originally installed in 2017, the food waste pit at ReFood’s Dagenham facility was due some much-needed refurbishment. Thanks to outstanding collaboration across SARIA UK, the project was completed successfully—under budget and ahead of schedule.

Teamwork in action

The refurbishment involved removing and replacing damaged pit screws, removing and reinstating the hopper wear strips, repairing a hole in the trough, and installing four new motor units. To maximize cost efficiency, all work was completed in-house by the SARIA UK team.

The Dagenham team led initial project preparations, managing food waste intake to ensure the hopper was empty before the new equipment was installed. Once cleaned, the old motors and gearboxes were removed in preparation for the upgrade.

Support poured in from across the business:

• The SARIA Doncaster team handled the removal of damaged screws and wear strips.
• The SARVAL Hartshill team worked overnight to weld new wear strips, repair damaged liners, and complete the welding of the screw compartments.

In just five days, thanks to seamless coordination across the entire project team, the refurbished pit was handed back to the operations team ahead of the planned handover date.

Innovative location

ReFood Dagenham has a long-standing presence in the area, with its roots tracing back over 200 years (formerly operating as John Knight). Today, it is home to London’s first food waste Anaerobic Digestion (AD) facility.

The £32 million plant is capable of processing 160,000 tonnes of food waste annually—equivalent in weight to 403 jumbo jets. Its environmental impact is equally impressive:

• Displaces 73.6 tonnes of CO₂ per year (the same as taking 14,431 cars off the road)

• Produces 14 million m³ of biogas annually—enough to power over 12,600 homes