Interzero Circular Solutions Germany

1991–2021

A group of waste management companies founded the Interseroh AG in Cologne in 1991. The company's objective was to recycle secondary raw materials as a guarantor for the Dual System Germany and to develop industry solutions to ensure the return and recycling of transport packaging in the material cycle.

The business model was based on the Packaging Ordinance of 12 June 1991. With this ordinance, the legislator required manufacturers and distributors of packaging to take back, recycle and dispose of their products after use. For the practical implementation of the ordinance, the Dual System Germany was initially introduced as a monopoly in the Federal Republic of Germany in 1990.

In 1993, Interseroh AG outsourced its operational business to Interseroh Dienstleistungs GmbH. From 1994 onwards, Interseroh expanded its business model and entered the metal and steel recycling sector, which developed into the company's second mainstay. This area was expanded in the following years. With the acquisition of Hansa Recycling GmbH, Dortmund, in 2001, Interseroh moved up from fifth to third place among the largest steel recycling companies in Germany.

In 1997, Interseroh expanded outside Germany with the establishment of its Austrian subsidiary EVA Erfassen und Verwerten von Altstoffen GmbH (EVA Collection and recycling of waste materials GmbH) as a system operator for Austria. Today, this company operates under the name Interseroh Austria GmbH.

In 2000, Interseroh took over Die Grüne Umweltbox (The Green Environment Box) take-back system for the collection of empty toner cartridges and mobile phones in companies, schools and kindergartens.

In 2004, the recycling company was granted permission to take back packaging waste, initially in Hamburg, in competition with Duales System Deutschland AG (DSD). The previous monopoly holder in the waste business, DSD, filed an unsuccessful lawsuit against this decision. Another waste disposal company, Landbell AG in Hesse, had already received approval to dispose of private waste. This meant that DSD no longer had its original monopoly position. When Baden-Württemberg became the last federal state to open up the waste disposal market to other companies in 2006, Interseroh GmbH was able to become active nationwide as a dual system.

In 2005, with the approval of the Federal Cartel Office, Interseroh was able to increase its share in Westpfand Clearing GmbH, the first deposit system for single-use beverage packaging on the German market, to 51 per cent. Together with Deutsche Pfand-Konzept GmbH, this resulted in the creation of Interseroh Pfand-System GmbH. Since then, it has been involved in the processing of goods and cash flows for single-use deposits. In 2008, the company was converted into a European public limited company (SE), operating under the name Interseroh SE. In the same year, it entered into a partnership with the waste disposal and recycling company Alba. In 2011, the metal and steel division was placed under the umbrella of the Alba Group. In the same year, Interseroh shareholders approved a control and profit and loss transfer agreement between Alba Group plc & Co. KG and Interseroh SE and decided in 2012 to rename Interseroh AG as Alba SE. This acts as an intermediate holding company for the Alba Group, but has retained its stock market listing. At the end of 2020, the free float was 6.9%.

Within the Alba Group, Interseroh represents the Services segment, which specialises in waste prevention, product recycling, packaging take-back, the provision of secondary raw materials and reusable solutions. In 2016, the Chinese family-owned company Techcent acquired 60 per cent of this division from the Alba Group. Techcent then had to file for insolvency in 2021 and sold the shares back to the Alba Group.

The newly established Interzero Holding in 2022 had three core business areas with a total of 61 subsidiaries in 10 European countries.