Seenons

Fnac Vanden Borre supplies 73 Vanden Borre and 13 Fnac shops from two distribution centres and five delivery platforms in Belgium, which generate cardboard, plastics, EPS and wood. Waste had been on the agenda for years, but there was no internal data and little practical support from the collector. Seenons BE mapped the whole chain, from materials and containers to removal and processing, agreed a waste policy with the group, improved sorting at source in the shops and reorganised the central containers in the distribution centres. Better compacting and removing unneeded containers made each cardboard container almost 15% heavier, so fewer collections are needed.

In January 2023 A.S.Adventure, part of the Yonderland group, set out to recycle more at its head office and distribution centre in Hoboken and to keep up with stricter sorting rules. Seenons ran a waste scan with the retailer and its logistics partner AOPC and found PMD, plastic film, hard plastics, e-waste, wood and metal ending up in residual waste. Year one focused on the warehouses: new sorting programmes, local partners such as De Kringwinkel for reuse and Remondis for PMD, donation of seasonal equipment and stationary balers with more capacity. Year two moved to the shops, with better containers for residual waste, paper, cardboard and organic waste. Figures compare 2024 with 2023.

Seenons has worked with Veritas since April 2023. After drawing up a waste policy and sampling what ended up in each bin, it took hard plastics, electronics, metal, EPS, silicone paper, wood and reusable materials out of residual waste and sent each new stream to the highest-value processing option. Every stream got its own colour code and sorting instructions, some materials are collected in the shops and returned internally, and the large residual waste container was replaced by a smaller, locked one. Staff took part in sorting training sessions.

Oxfam Belgium sorts donated goods for its 30 second-hand shops, and items that cannot be reused end up as company waste. Seenons BE started in 2021 with a quick scan of the central sorting centre, then of the shops, and found recyclable materials in the residual waste. Together they redefined which fractions to sort, added internal and bulk containers, appointed local and specialised processors and trained the staff. Hard plastics, coloured film and ceramics are now collected separately, and ICT equipment is collected in a new way.

When Fully stopped selling office equipment in May 2023, its warehouse in Ghent held 630 tonnes of stock. Seenons Belgium organised the clearance with Katoen Natie, Fully's stock manager, and Transport Group Martens, loading trailers by hand to fill them better. The materials went to six local reuse and recycling partners, including Bruco, MIREC, Scrap, Hou'tHart, Buurman and Oxfam's IMPACT Furniture. Only 11.40 tonnes (1.6%) could not be recycled.

Danone Rotselaar, Europe's largest yoghurt production site, wanted to get more materials out of residual waste on its way to zero waste, and needed every team on board. Working with the site's environmental coordinator, Seenons ran a quick scan, set the waste policy and its practical rules, appointed local and specialised collectors and processors, and ran sorting trials. It then gave training sessions across all production shifts, including nights and weekends, to every employee involved in handling materials.