Objectives & history

The objective of RCYCL asbl is to combine environmental aspects, job creation and training as best as possible by recycling bulky waste and networking social economy enterprises. The basic idea of ​​the RCYCL project was to find an alternative to classic “door-to-door” bulky waste collections. Instead of passing once or twice a year, in all the streets of a municipality, to collect bulky waste with shredder trucks and for the sole purpose of burying them in a landfill, RCYCL wanted to offer a permanent collection service and flexible, by appointment, which would allow maximum recovery of bulky items by manual sorting of the different objects and materials.

The RCYCL non-profit organization was created in 1998. The sorting center began its activities in collaboration with the city of Eupen and the Ministry of the German-speaking Community in October 2000.

As RCYCL is a European pilot project, the sorting center and its seven partners from the social economy have benefited from various start-up aids:

• +/- €700,000 from the European LIFE programme,
• +/- €375,000 from the German-speaking Community, which was also responsible for the overall coordination of the project,
• +/- €100,000 from the Walloon Region and
• +/- €40,000 from ONEM.

About a third of these sums were used to ensure the implementation of the activities and operation of the sorting centre.

In 2002, the sorting center also obtained the title of federal integration company.

In 2003-2004, the FSE-EQUAL “EIGE” project will help the sorting centre, as well as three partner associations (including “3R” - the main partner of the LIFE project) to strengthen their structures. As part of this project, RCYCL will benefit from aid of nearly €180,000.

In the following years, the sorting center will manage to stabilize financially without subsidies for one-off projects and will achieve structural financial equilibrium. This is also explained by the fact that the collaboration with the public centers for social action (CPAS) has intensified over time, which allows us today to employ around twenty trainees under article status. 60§7.

In 2006, RCYCL was named ambassador of the social economy. In 2011, the association received the REC'UP label, and in 2012 the approval of the Walloon Region as a "RESSOURCERIE". We are particularly proud to have won the prize for the best social enterprise in Wallonia and Brussels in 2012.

Collection activities have started on behalf of the City of Eupen.

A little later, the municipalities of La Calamine, Plombières and Raeren were added in 2001, as well as Aubel, Baelen, Limbourg and Lontzen in 2002.

In 2004, two additional municipalities, Jalhay and Welkenraedt, joined the list of RCYCL partner municipalities. Since obtaining contracts for the collection of bulky household items in the municipalities of Theux in 2005, Dison in 2007, as well as from the City of Verviers in 2008 (the latter having benefited from a test phase in several former municipalities in from 2005), RCYCL managed to fill its budget with 80% of its own revenue, the remaining 20% ​​coming from structural staff subsidies from the German-speaking Community (BVA posts ≈ APE), from the Federal State for SINE posts and PREMIER EMPLOI, and the Walloon Region through the "RESSOURCERIE" aggregation.

New partnerships were concluded with the municipalities of Thimister-Clermont in 2013 and Pepinster in 2015.

Sorting activities began in rented buildings, located in Eupen (from 2000 to 2004) and then in Herbesthal (from 2004 to 2010).

In 2009, RCYCL decided to acquire land in the industrial estate of Eupen to construct new buildings there, which would probably be the most important step in its history. This was possible thanks to the help of the German-speaking Community, which financed almost 60% of the project costs, amounting to approximately €1.55 million.

The rest of the financing will be provided by loans from SOWESCOM and CREDAL (€650,000 over 15 years) and by equity capital of +/- €60,000. RCYCL moved in June 2010. The surface of the land is approximately 9,000 m², the workshop and the store occupy 1,500 m², the administrative building and the social premises extend over 400 m².

Currently, about thirty people work at the sorting centre. The RCYCL non-profit organization is now a partner of 15 municipalities for the collection of bulky items and 12 CPAS for social integration. In 2017, 3,303 tonnes of bulky items were collected, of which 2,479 tonnes came from households in our partner municipalities. The types of collection and sorting carried out by our non-profit organization have enabled our partner municipalities to significantly reduce the quantities of bulky household waste incinerated or landfilled.

The recovery rate is currently +/- 75%.