In conversation with our partners

Why is it so important to focus on recovery and reuse?

Francine Beya (Ressources): ‘When you recycle goods, there is usually a loss of value because you cannot, for instance, valorise all of the components. This is the well-known concept known as Lansink’s Ladder (the idea that you give priority to the most environmental-friendly processing methods, ed.). But it is also a response to our consumer society, which encourages us to buy new things all the time.’

Joren Verschaeve (HERW!N): ‘The social aspect of recovery and reuse is also part of this. You can see this very clearly with electrical and electronic equipment. People in disadvantaged circumstances often cannot afford a new washing machine. But they can get one at a second-hand shop. Collecting, sorting, and repairing these devices are also labour-intensive processes. So, reuse provides many jobs, especially for people who have a hard time entering the labour market. This is how second-hand shops fulfil a dual social role.’

How many jobs does the social economy create in Belgium?

Beya: ‘In Wallonia and Brussels, we are talking about 7,800 people, but at different levels: contractual workers, volunteers, and people in training. In terms of full-time equivalents, we are talking about 2,300.’

Verschaeve: ‘There are many different types of work and work contracts, but you can say that about 50,000 people in Flanders work in the social economy in one way or another. Specifically, for second-hand shops, it is about 6,000 people. According to our research, there are actually twice as many people eligible for jobs in the social economy, but we do not currently have the resources for this.’

How long have you worked with Recupel?

Verschaeve: ‘I would say from the very beginning. The recycling centres were already doing selective collection in the 1980s. That process was formalised when Recupel was founded. Collaboration agreements were drawn up that determined which devices were accepted, how figures were reported, and so on.’

Beya: ‘Our collaboration dates back to 1999, but it was less structured then. By the way, the creation of our federation came from our members’ desire to determine whether there was room for the social economy within Recupel’s system. The signing of the framework agreement in 2006 transformed our collaboration into a true partnership.’

What is the share of electrical and electronic equipment in your operation?

Beya: ‘In 2019, we collected 21,000 tonnes of devices. Less than 2,000 tonnes of this went to repair and reuse. The rest was recycled. This is partly due to people’s reflex to immediately recycle broken devices rather than repairing them. With Recupel’s help, we will continue to collaborate with manufacturers and large chains to increase the number of donations of discarded devices for reuse.’

Verschaeve: ‘As a rough estimate, 10% of what’s collected by second-hand shops goes to recycling. This figure could be higher, but it is also partly due to the product group. For example, the parts of three broken washing machines are often combined into one working machine. Electrical and electronic equipment accounts for about 5% of our total turnover. That is an important share, but less than the traditional items, books, textiles, and furniture.’

What is the consumer’s attitude towards recycling today?

Beya: ‘Our customers are very happy with their devices. On average, they acquire devices for only a third of the price even though the devices undergo an extensive quality check. This is not always the case when you buy things second hand. They also get a warranty on their purchase.’

Verschaeve: ‘Many second-hand shops have grown out of the welfare movement. As I said, that’s still an important role for us today: offering affordable goods to people who are not well off. We’ve also seen a growing group of consumers buying second-hand products based on ecological considerations. We believe this is a positive development. If we sell more, we can devote more resources to employment. The rising popularity also increases collection and ensures there’s a supply of higher quality devices.’

How do you see the reuse of electrical and electronic equipment evolving in the future?

Beya: ‘The right to repair in the European Green Deal will encourage devices being repaired. We are already working on this with our Repair Cafés, where we teach consumers how to repair their own devices. At the same time, the market is evolving, for example, towards as-a-service models. Our role in this is limited for the time being: it’s actually a commitment between manufacturer and customer. But we do follow up on it, so that our members are ready when the market changes.’

Verschaeve: ‘Electrical and electronic equipment is one of the fastest growing waste streams worldwide. Today, in Belgium, we’re already collecting more than 50%. So, there’s still a huge potential that we want to explore. We need to shift to a system where the different actors collaborate much more closely together. For example, we see that manufacturers and retailers are increasingly engaging second-hand shops as a preliminary step toward training people in their repair workshops. Recupel can play an important role in that chain approach.’

How did the collaboration between BD Logistics and Recupel come about?

Kristof Gouvaerts: ‘We are very natural partners. On the one hand, BD Logistics specialises in the fine-meshed logistics of large goods. We deliver furniture, refrigerators, washing machines, and so on, directly to people’s homes and do installations if necessary. So, we’re well equipped to do the reverse for Recupel as well: collect large discarded electrical and electronic equipment from collection points in the city. On the other hand, sustainability is part of both of our DNA. We do this in the first place by bringing together flows of goods at the edge of the city. This is how we limit the logistics kilometres driven within the city. We also do this as ecologically as possible. We have a modular fleet that includes bicycle couriers, electric and CNG vehicles…’

‘The collection of discarded electrical and electronic equipment was new to us and it requires extra attention. Our logistics team normally loads and unloads pallets. What we do for Recupel is much less standardised and has more legal obligations. You have to invest in the right resources and train your people well, so they can work safely and in an ergonomically correct manner. It’s not an easy task, but that’s not what we are looking for. BD Logistics provides logistics with added value.’

How is the collaboration going?

‘It’s going really well. Recupel is a small dynamic team and we like that. There’s a very short communication line between both organisations and we interact very openly with each other. This makes it easy for us to raise any issues and to act quickly when it comes to finding solutions. We don’t have to deal with cumbersome administration, but work together smoothly and informally.’

How does BD Logistics strive for sustainability?

‘We view sustainability from both an ecological and a social perspective. Using an open ecosystem, we collaborate with various parties: sheltered workshops, bicycle couriers, etc. For example, we collaborate with the sheltered workshop Manus to collect electrical and electronic equipment. They sort the goods and prepare them for bulk transport. In Mechelen, we collaborate with WerKans. They help people enter the labour market. We’re now also setting up a sheltered workshop department within BD Logistics. However, this will be a long process.’

‘Mobility is also an important factor in our business. To this end, we are committed to a modular fleet. For short distances, we work with bicycle couriers. In the city centre, we also work with electric delivery vans. For slightly longer distances, we switch to CNG and we work with HVO for the large pallets. This is a type of biodiesel based on organic residues. Combined with our strategy of bringing goods together at the edge of the city, this reduces our CO₂ emissions by 75%.’

Do you plan to fully electrify your fleet?

‘We no longer order a vehicle unless it is sustainable. We would prefer to switch to electric or hybrid as soon as possible. We are also closely monitoring developments in that market, but for now, the investment is still considerable and the vehicles we want to buy are not always available. Electric lorries in particular are still in the early stages. Early this year, we expanded our green fleet with some e-Crafters. For us, these are particularly suited to the city centre and for 80 to 90 km routes. We also see that our customers are increasingly being pushed in that direction by their shareholders and other stakeholders. For example, in Ghent, you can only enter the city using a sustainable vehicle.’

Do you also see a future using other forms of transport for the collection of discarded devices?

‘I really believe in the potential of water transport. Of course, it’s not immediately usable for our fine-meshed logistics. But we already using sea containers to transport our sorted goods by road. It can be transported perfectly well using the inland waterway or also by rail. We also take this into account when looking for a depot location: at the edge of the city and along the water. For example, our CityDepot in Hasselt is located close to the Albert Canal. In this case, the final processor must also be located by a canal or railway. At the moment, this is not often the case. I think there is an opportunity here for Recupel and they are open to it. That’s what makes our collaboration so enriching: we look at society and our role in it in the same way.’

What exactly does the Green Deal entail?

Patrick Van den Bossche, Agoria director: ‘I see it as Europe’s man-on-the-moon moment: a really ambitious sustainability agenda that requires broad involvement at all levels of society. The focus of attention is the goal of being climate neutral by 2050. Energy, buildings, and mobility are major challenges in this respect. But there are also cornerstones devoted to pollution, hazardous substances and biodiversity, and an important role for a clean circular economy. The European Union drew up the Circular Economy Action Plan for this purpose in 2020.’

What is the link between the circular economy and climate?

‘To become climate neutral, huge investments are needed in infrastructure and renewable energy, among other things. This requires a lot of raw materials, which are already becoming scarce. The outcome: volatile prices and uncertainty for companies faced with increasing demand. About 50% of CO₂ emissions are also linked to raw materials, and in this context, circularity becomes indispensable.’

‘In Belgium, we’re already quite far along with recycling, especially when it comes to metals. Nonetheless, focusing more on resource efficiency, recovery, and reuse is a necessary complementary strategy. Because, the longer the lifespan, the better we can preserve the added value of raw materials and products in our society. A refurbished smartphone is a hundred times more worth than the raw materials it contains.’

‘New business models, such as light as a service, supported by digital technology, play an important role in this. These models automatically close the recycling circle because the provider will already be thinking about what to do with his product after its first use, sometimes ten years down the line.’

How does the Circular Economy Action Plan affect manufacturers of electronic devices?

‘The global tendency is to think more in terms of value chains and ecosystems. This is quite an adjustment because technology companies are traditionally used to finding technological solutions to a problem. Circular thinking is much more based on partnerships. How do you use ecological design so that other parties can easily recycle or repair the product? How do you balance that with product safety when outsiders start working on your products? A challenge here is to create added value for each party in the value chain.’

How can manufacturers of electronic devices become circular?

‘We encourage our members to experiment. Choose a segment that lends itself to it, don’t try to change your whole product range at once. Map out your product’s ecosystem so you can see what happens to it after it is sold and identify life stages where you can still create added value. For example, Atlas Copco offers used compressors that it re-manufactures itself according to current standards and with a renewed warranty. So, they are tapping into a customer niche that cannot or will not necessarily invest in their all-new compressors.’

What are the benefits of a digital circular economy?

‘In a nutshell, this is about using data to extend the lifespan of a product or facilitate its processing. For example, a recycling company that wants to know what materials are in a device. However, the concept is much broader. By re-manufacturing your own devices, you learn something about its wear and tear and so can develop even more reliable sustainable products. Actually, a lot of this kind of data is already available. But manufacturers don’t always realise this or don’t immediately see how they can use it to create added value.’

The EU has included the ‘right to repair’ in its circular action plan… is that a good idea?

‘The right to repair is very complex and goes beyond the idea that you just repair a product. In principle, everything is repairable, but it’s also about the cost price or about the age and performance of the product itself versus the latest state of the art. Manufacturers are required to keep spare parts available for a certain period of time. But technology can change very quickly, so they have to build up a stock of parts they no longer use. This is a cost that the consumer must pay and it may also be a social cost. We must look at possible solutions, such as the professionalisation of the repair sector. This can create new jobs. This is how we can constructively fulfil the important role of repair in a circular economy.’