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Founders
EKOL was founded in 1989 by the Kempense Steenkoolmijnen
(KS), the Openbare Afvalstoffenmaatschappij voor het Vlaamse
Gewest (OVAM), the Limburgse Vinylmaatschappij (LVM) and
Eurobox. These partners took this initiative as a result
of the positive results of a study conducted by KS on
the possibility of recycling plastic waste. The name "EKOL"
comes from the first letters of the names of the four
founding shareholders.
Pilot project
For its part, the city of Hasselt organised during the
same years a pilot project on the selective collection
of plastic waste. This project was designed to answer
the question whether selectively collected packaging waste
could be economically and ecologically recycled into new
useful products. |
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In order
to make it easy for the citizens, all plastic types
(PVC, PET, PE, PP, PS, etc.) were collected without
distinction and in all possible forms (packaging such
as films, pots, bottles, and non-packaging) in a single
green bag. |
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| Processing
close to home
The processing of the plastic waste into usable materials
and products preferably had to take place close to the
collection area. In 1991 a pilot installation was commissioned,
located on the grounds of the former coal mine of Beringen.
The experience acquired with this installation led to
the construction of the current production unit in Houthalen.
The new buildings and installations were commissioned
in August 2000.
In mid-2001 they were formally inaugurated by then-Flemish
Minister-President Patrick Dewael. The installation
in Beringen was dismantled. |
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Eco-efficiency
In the design of the installations, great attention
was devoted to the eco-efficiency of the recycling
process. As well as to the general environmental protection
in and around the plant: litter and visual pollution
are avoided through storage in a closed hall, rain
water - recovered via canals and a pond is used as
washing water and there are virtually no discharges.
The annual processing capacity of the plant amounts
to 10,000 tonnes of raw plastic waste. This corresponds
to the domestic plastic waste of around 1 million
citizens and to three months of incineration capacity
of the domestic waste incinerator in Houthalen.
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