What is the mission of Recupel? To collect, reuse and recycle as many used lightbulbs and e-appliances as possible.

Ultimately, anything which has a plug or power outlet, or which runs on batteries. Our homes, offices, villages and towns are overflowing with unused electronic devices which are gathering dust in cupboards and drawers. However, these devices are made of components which can be reprocessed and reused to create new products. Items which are still functional can be put straight back to use through the reuse centres.

We sort our household waste, why not our electronic goods and bulbs?

It is widely acknowledged that Belgium does a great deal of waste sorting. However, many of us still don't think (enough) about sorting bulbs and e-waste for recycling.

Recupel recycles gas-discharge lamps (energy-saving bulbs and tube lighting) as well as LED lights. These should never be disposed of in household waste bins or glass recycling bins. To find out more about these kinds of bulbs and why we should recycle them, click here.

Old e-appliances can often simply get forgotten about. We keep them "just in case" or they may just be stored in a cupboard and completely forgotten about, often cluttering our homes. Some are even left out on the streets or put in household waste bins and end up in a landfill. Many of them contain hazardous substances and materials which can cause environmental pollution for many years to come.

Why should we recycle our bulbs and electronic devices?

We can immediately give the electric and electronic appliances which are still functional a second life through the reuse centres. If you're not using them, give them away, they might be useful to someone!

Broken devices can also contain many components which can be recovered, reprocessed and reused to create new products. Recupel is able to recycle an average 90% of our device components. Thanks to our recycling partners, who follow practices which are as environmentally-friendly as possible, and materials such as plastics, metals and glass, as well as precious metals such as zinc, gold and silver can be extracted directly from the devices in our towns and villages. This is what is known as Urban Mining , as opposed to the traditional extraction mining which is not only unsustainable as a source of materials, but often causes ecological, ethical and human harm.

This is the reason why it is vital that you bring your devices to us so that we can help give them a new lease of life. Together, we can therefore contribute to build a genuinely circular economy.