Indaver at Open Company Day - Why sorting is a work of art

Packaging from the blue PMD bag is processed at five Belgian sorting centres, where it is further sorted into 16 material streams, ready for recycling. One of these sorting centres is located in Willebroek and is operated by the Belgian company Indaver, a leading player in sustainable waste management. The sorting centre processes some 65,000 tonnes of PMD from three million Flemish people every year.

A real eye-opener

"Open in word and deed is one of Indaver's core values," says Saskia Alaerts. "We therefore like to seize initiatives such as VOKA's Open Company Day to throw open the gates to the general public and offer them a glimpse behind the scenes of our activities. In recent years, for instance, people could visit our sites in Doel and Antwerp and Hooge Maey. This year it was the PMD sorting centre in Willebroek's turn."

And that turned out to be a hit. "Interest was particularly high: we received as many as 1,300 interested people on Sunday. If we add our Family Day on Saturday, we were even able to welcome a total of 2,000 people in one weekend's time."

"Visitors found it a real eye-opener to see what happens to the packaging they sort at home. Because many people still think that the packaging they sort is lumped together. We wanted to eliminate that misconception at least - they are all processed into new raw materials for recycling in Belgium and neighbouring countries."

Sorting is a work of art

Through a mapped-out experience trail, visitors were given insight into the entire sorting process, from the supply of the PMD bags to compressing the bales of new raw materials. In between, they were introduced to the innovative technologies deployed to separate the different materials from the blue bag one by one.

"It's actually quite an art to sort all that packaging into separate streams," says Saskia Alaerts. "This also translated into our slogan for the Open Bedrijvendag - Sorting is a work of art - and the striking poster with an obvious nod to Andy Warhol's soup cans."

Indaver also took the opportunity to make visitors aware of the important role they themselves play in the whole process. Through interactive animations, young and old could brush up on their sorting and recycling knowledge. "This is how we complete the circle. Because only by sorting at source at home can we give all that packaging a new life. And that is ultimately the essence of our story," concludes Saskia Alaerts.