Renewi commissioned a new line for recycling electric boilers at its Lesquin site in northern France, at the end of June. The Dutch recycler expects the facility to process around 15,500 tonnes of end-of-life boilers each year. It has been designed so that the greenhouse gases contained in the insulation foam inside the appliances can be safely recovered, while at the same time the highest possible quality of material recycling is achieved. The installation was commissioned by Ecosystem, a French producer responsibility system focusing on the collection and recycling of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) as well as lighting equipment.
In executing the project, Renewi said that it drew on its experience in fridge recycling because the two waste streams pose similar technical challenges. The Dutch company added a washing plant and a pre-shredder to the existing infrastructure in Lesquin. These units remove water and limescale residues efficiently and prepare components for manual or automated sorting, the recycler explained.
"This boiler recycling line is a perfect example: it embodies our commitment to combining economic performance, environmental responsibility, and local value creation. It also represents a key milestone in our ambition to transform today’s waste into tomorrow’s circular materials," said Bas van Ginkel, managing director of Renewi E-waste, formerly Coolrec. "It also represents a key milestone in our ambition to transform today’s waste into tomorrow’s circular materials," he added.
Ecosystem also sees the new recycling line as a meaningful step towards greater environmental protection and the project as an opportunity aligned with it environmental ambitions. "Our role was to bring together all project stakeholders – collectors, metal traders, treatment centres –since these new units required the implementation of an entirely new process across the whole treatment chain. Together, we reached a consensus on a new economic model that respects the interests of all parties," said the PRO's general director Nathalie Yserd.
