Ingka Group-backed recycling plant to boost Belgium’s circularity goals

Belgium has broken ground on a new recycling facility backed by Ingka Group’s €1 billion circularity investment fund, which is set to service 80% of the country’s households.

The Morssinkhof-Rymoplast Group facility will turn household waste such as milk bottles, butter tubs, and shampoo containers into recycled materials that can be used in packaging, with the capacity to serve about four million households.

This is the plastics group’s 13th such plant, and third in Belgium, and will create about 65 new jobs. It is being developed in collaboration with the Belgian circularity organisation Fost Plus and will enable the recycling and processing of household packaging and plastics collected through the national PMD (Plastic, Metal, and Drink cartons) system.

“This groundbreaking marks a circularity milestone for households in Belgium,” says Nathalie Van Edom, Sustainability Manager at IKEA Belgium. “At Ingka Group, we already use recycled household plastics produced by Morssinkhof-Rymoplast in products like our HÅLLBAR waste sorting bins, helping give materials a second life. Now, thanks to this collaboration, we’re taking it a step further and our Belgian customers will see the direct impact of their recycling efforts with products made from their own butter tubs returning to their homes”.

Belgium’s circular economy targets

Belgium has increased its recycling capacity from just 9% of household waste in 2020 to 69% today, and is projected to surpass 75% by next year thanks to new facilities such as the one backed by Ingka Group, as well as strong cooperation between citizens, industry, and government.

Evy Morssinkhof, Organisation & Business Development of Morssinkhof-Rymoplast Group, adds: “Despite the challenges facing the recycling industry, we remain fully committed to our mission: transforming plastic waste into high-quality materials that can be used again and again. This new facility is not only an investment in infrastructure but a promise to Belgian households that their efforts to recycle make a difference.”

Ingka Group’s recycling investment and call for regulation

Ingka Group, IKEA’s largest retailer, announced a new €1 billion investment in recycling infrastructure through its Ingka Investment arm this January. For the company, investing in circularity is a matter of decarbonisation, resource use and future-proofing the business.

At the time, Peter van der Poel, Managing Director of Ingka Investments, said the investment was a way for Ingka Group to “do its part” towards a circular economy, but advocated for better regulation. 

“What would help us go further is if legislation was stronger at prioritising recycling over incineration and landfilling, for example by ensuring that Extended Producer Responsibility schemes were resulting in higher recycling rates. We also welcome eco-design regulations to encourage the demand for these recycled materials and we are actively collaborating with relevant authorities and other stakeholders to address these issues,” he added.