The future is #circulartogether

Eric Dewaet: “Two years ago, we organised a stakeholder survey to set the focus of Recupel’s mission and vision. Over the past year, we worked on and tested those ideas further within our governing body. This has resulted in a broader mission and vision. Together with our partners and consumers, we are creating a sustainable and circular society. We want to reduce the consumption of raw materials and energy. We continue to collect and process electrical and electronic appliances and light bulbs, but now we are also expressing exactly how: through repair, reuse and high-quality recycling.”

Bruno Vermoesen: “This is not an abstract exercise. Our new mission and vision reflect how the way we work has evolved, and they are translated into concrete initiatives. For example, in our latest agreement with the retail sector, we very clearly focus on reuse, including by encouraging careful collection [preventing appliances from getting damaged during collection, ed.]. We have also taken on a new member of staff who focuses on cooperating with the reuse sector.”

“Apart from this, having an explicit, strategic guiding principle prevents us from just looking at the figures. Reporting figures and setting goals is certainly important, but for Recupel, it is kind of a paradox. For example, we are striving for the European goal to collect 65% of the electrical and electronic devices that came on the market over the past three years. However, the more we move in the direction of a circular economy, the longer the lifespan of devices. And today, that lifespan is already considerably longer than three years! In a nutshell: the more circular our economy becomes, the worse our figures will be.”

Bruno Vermoesen: “Our new mission and vision reflect how the way we work has evolved.”

Talking about figures: how was 2022?

Dewaet: “After two record years, in 2022, we saw a 7% decline. That has a logical explanation. During Covid, people were mostly at home, and they tidied up. They couldn’t go on holiday and so had extra money for renovations or to replace old appliances and devices. After the pandemic, that effect dropped. In 2022, war broke out and on top of that uncertainty, including economic uncertainty, was rife. This meant people held back more and replaced their appliances and devices less often.”

“Every two or three years, we conduct a survey among a representative portion of the population. The 2022 survey revealed that there were approximately 49 million unused appliances lying in cupboards and drawers. The main reason given was “just in case” – which is a great shame, because there are people who could put them to good use, certainly now that budgets are tighter. What we have seen is that the number of refrigerators collected keeps rising. That is important, because they are particularly harmful for the environment if they are not disposed of properly. And it also shows that people’s engagement has actually remained unchanged.”

Eric Dewaet: “49 million appliances are lying unused in cupboards and drawers. This is a great shame, because there are people who could put them to good use.”

Vermoesen: “Together with our partners, we continue to look for new ways to encourage people [to recycle]. One example is the Retour project, a partnership with bpost, which means people can give small old electrical and electronic devices to the postal service when they receive a delivery. Another is Pick-up, which allows companies, schools and other organisations to have small volumes of old household appliances collected.”

Dewaet: “Sometimes, the difference lies in the small adjustments, such as a separate section in recycling centres for appliances and devices that still work. That is a form of nudging. Having a place where you carefully put appliances and devices instead of piling them up in a bulk container, where they might get damaged, makes you think about what they can still be used for. These initiatives make or break depending on the cooperation of partners such as recycling centre operatives, retailers, second-hand shops etc. I am very pleased that they are also pitching in with this evolution towards more repair and reuse. We saw that last year with a good rise in reuse figures.”

Cooperation as a recipe for success?

Vermoesen: “Cooperation and participation. To boost both, this year [2023] we are introducing a new structure. We are moving from eight non-profits – the seven sectors plus Recupel itself – to just one. We are no longer working divided up into sectors, but in six divisions that take care of the interests of the different product categories: white goods, IT equipment, temperature exchange, tools, construction, and medical and laboratory. At the same time, we are reducing the number of directors from 16 to 12.”

“The main aim of this new structure is to give the market more of a say and harness expertise. There is room for federations, representatives and even an external director such as someone from academia. The strength of Recupel has always been that we take action, but in a focused way. We work smartly, assisted by our supporters and with a good relationship between the team and governing body. That’s why we are among the top performers in Europe, and I have utmost confidence that we will remain so next year. Until our next annual report!”

Our new vision
Recupel, together with consumers and partners, is creating a sustainable and circular society by collecting electrical and electronic appliances and light bulbs to give them a new lease of life.

 

Our new mission
On behalf of manufacturers, Recupel collects and processes used electrical and electronic appliances and light bulbs. Working with a wide network of partners, we encourage repair and reuse and organise high-quality recycling. That way, together we reduce our consumption of raw materials and energy.