Renewi

Renewi, a leading waste-to-product company, operates across the Netherlands, Belgium, France, and Portugal. With over 6,000 employees and nearly 900 job roles, managing mandatory training and certification had become complicated. Each location tracked training differently.

This meant working with dozens of Excel files and fragmented data, which limited our ability to keep a complete overview of the qualifications required per role.

said Maria van Leeuwen, Interim Project Manager Learning & Development at Renewi.

A clearer structure would enhance Renewi’s ability to demonstrate compliance during audits and strengthen oversight across sites, creating a more consistent and reliable compliance picture.

A warning sparks change

An audit report exposed gaps in required blue-collar training at several of Renewi’s sites. The finding prompted the start of the “License to Operate” project, an initiative to centralize and standardize all training data across the company. To support consistent compliance, we introduced AG5, following up with a unified qualification matrix and streamlined vendor management, creating a stronger foundation for reliable governance.

That gave us a reliable way to demonstrate compliance and safeguard our license to operate.

said Alex Baggerman, Renewi’s Director of Talent & Learning.

The first step was to collect and validate data from 120 locations. The team discovered 40,000 certificates stored in legacy systems and 354 learning objects scattered across departments, all coordinated by a lean team of just 1.5 FTEs.

From spreadsheets to structure

Renewi decided to replace fragmented spreadsheets with a single, unified system. The project began by defining a baseline for core safety and operational training. Each department reviewed and aligned qualification requirements to create a consistent framework.

We wanted one system that connects SHEQ, Operations, and HR while giving managers live insight into training compliance,

van Leeuwen said. Once the data was uploaded, managers provided feedback to fine-tune the setup. After every round of implementation, the team ran evaluation sessions to identify gaps and make adjustments. “A clear timeline and visible results kept everyone motivated,” van Leeuwen said.

This structured approach strengthened collaboration and maintained momentum across locations that were used to working independently or in silos.

Lessons along the way

The team faced several key decisions as the rollout progressed. At first, they debated whether to build their own system or use an existing platform. They ultimately chose a ready-to-use solution for its speed, stability, and scalability.

Employees initially uploaded their own certificates, which quickly revealed variations in data quality. The team then introduced support to verify and assist with uploads, turning this insight into an opportunity to raise data reliability without slowing progress.

Ownership was also a major consideration. The project was led by the business with IT providing support, ensuring that the people using the system every day were in charge of shaping it. “We learned that buy-in from the business was not as seamless with IT in the lead.” “Instead, we found more success when HR facilitated the process, but operations took ownership of compliance.” Baggerman said.

Clear results and a stronger foundation

The License to Operate project completely changed how Renewi manages training and compliance. Qualification data from every site is now centralized, governance is consistent, and audit preparation is significantly faster and more reliable. Managers have a clear view of training needs and renewals, which strengthens accountability across departments. “Now, compliance is visible and reliable,” Baggerman said.

We can prove our teams are qualified, and we can focus on improving skills, not chasing certificates.

With the foundation in place, Renewi is preparing to connect the system with training vendors and extend it to external employees. Governance structures and SLAs are being finalized to ensure long-term sustainability.

“AG5 gave us a foundation,” van Leeuwen said. “We now have control, visibility, and a model we can build on.”