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INTERVIEW

7recyclinginternational.com | September/October | 2019

competitor’s PST plant – or even to
ARN’s PST plant in Tiel. This makes
PST a competitive factor in Belgium
and that is why we have a lot of PST
plants, all functioning in their own way,
catering to different applications.’

How do you feel about
cars tHat are ‘lost’ to tHe
recycling sector?
‘We calculate that, every year, there
are between 35 000 and 65 000 used
cars in Belgium that are untraceable.
This is partly because the licence plate
is linked to the person owning the car,
not the vehicle itself. It’s unclear

where the cars end up. We have
pleaded for a simplified technical
inspection before vehicles are export-
ed. Only then can we monitor that
we’re sending only second-hand cars –
and not waste – to other countries.
But I’m afraid there will be always be
cars that won’t be recycled, here or
elsewhere. The only way we can fix
this could be through Eucharis, a
European platform allowing member
states to exchange information about
trade and crime such as car theft.
Meanwhile, we will work with regional
authorities to investigate and prose-
cute illegal recycling centres.’

tHere Has been a lot of talk
about electric cars recent-
ly. How many sucH veHicles
are ready for scrapping in
belgium?
‘Not that many as yet. We don’t have
the fiscal climate needed for the adop-
tion of electric cars on a large scale.
Therefore, we are seeing only the
beginnings of the electric car fleet. But I
have to say we are ready. For instance,
we have established our first ATF+s,
which stands for facilities authorised to
treat electrical and hybrid cars as well as
regular vehicles. We inaugurated the
first such facility with our ministers of
environment in April. At the moment,
Febelauto has a contract with 42 brands
of electrical and hybrid cars in Belgium
and Luxembourg.’

wHat is your take on energy
storage systems based on
car batteries?
‘We hope that we can soon offer ener-
gy storage systems to customers. We
demonstrated our first second-life
battery on 21 June, when we celebrat-
ed our 20th anniversary. We invited a
special guest – Belgium’s Prince
Laurent. He was the one who plugged
in our Febelauto second-life battery
to start the music for the party. He
also toured the harbour at Antwerp in
a boat powered by one of our second-
life car batteries. We strongly believe
in the future of second-life batteries
and our team is also very excited to
develop this further.’

can you paint a picture of
tHe car industry of tomor-
row?
‘Our automotive sector is in the early
stages of a big transition, one of
which involves e-mobility. The industry
is also moving towards offering mobil-
ity services (leasing, ‘on demand’
transport) instead of just selling cars.
These are very exciting times and I am
very pleased to be part of it. Cars typ-
ically last more than 15 years. This
means we have a big advantage; we
have time to prepare for the changes
the future will bring. And who knows
what’s next? Flying cars? I cannot
wait.’

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