Calendar > Circularity in practice at Recticel

Circularity in practice at Recticel

What does it take to turn circular ambition into a viable industrial model? Step inside Recticel’s new recycling facility and explore, together with businesses and experts, what makes circular solutions work at scale.

Contact Person

John Dams

john.dams@theshift.be

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Date

26/11/2026
13:30 - 18:00

Location

Recticel Insulation, Zuidstraat 15, 8560 Wevelgem

Why does it matter?

Heel Circular solutions are moving from experiments and pilots towards the core of industrial operations. But scaling them is rarely just a technical challenge. It requires viable business models, investment, reliable material flows, customer demand, and collaboration across the value chain.

So how do you make the leap from a promising circular solution to something that works reliably, competitively and at an industrial scale?

What to expect?

During this inspiration session, Recticel Insulation opens the doors of its Wevelgem site to share how it is putting circularity into practice. Starting from this concrete case, we will explore the broader challenges companies encounter when trying to scale circular models.

A keynote by Professor Steven de Meesterwill unpack the conditions that can enable or hinder circular solutions at scale, followed by a cross-sector panel discussion on what it takes to make circularity work in practice

You will leave the session with:

A real-life look at industrial circularity: visit Recticel’s new recycling facility and discover how production waste from PIR insulation is transformed into raw material for new production.

Insights into the leap from pilot to scale: explore what changes when a circular solution needs to work continuously, reliably and at industrial level.

Different approaches to circular business: learn from Recticel, ETAP Lighting and experts about circularity through recycling, product design, lifetime extension, refurbishment and new business models.

Lessons from across sectors: exchange experiences with peers about the business case, partnerships and value-chain conditions needed to make circular solutions work.


13:30	Welcome coffee	Arrival and registration.
14:00	Turning circularity into value: Werner Van Peteghem, Sustainability & Communications Director, Recticel Group	Ambition sets the direction. Data provides the insight. Mindset drives change. Together, they create value. Recticel shares the choices behind its approach to circularity and what this means for its business, operations and value chain.
14:15	Keynote: From ambition to scale – Steven de Meester , Professor at Ghent University	What makes scaling circular solutions difficult? An expert perspective on some of the conditions that determine whether circular models can move beyond the pilot stage: from technology and economics to markets and collaboration.
14:45	Inside Recticel’s recycling process: what to look out for on site: Ward Dhaese, Innovation Manager Recticel Insulation	A short technical introduction to Recticel’s recycling process: what are we about to see, and what makes the installation relevant from a circularity perspective?
15:00	Plant visit: polyol recycling in practice	Step inside Recticel’s new recycling facility and see how production waste from PIR insulation is recycled into raw material that can be used again in production.
16:00	Panel – Making circularity work at scale	A cross-sector conversation with Werner Van Peteghem, Sustainability & Communications Director at Recticel Group, Dominiek Plancke, Chief Executive Officer at ETAP Lighting, Steven De Meester, Professor at Ghent University and Corien Struijk, Advisor Cluster Policy and Innovation Procurement at VLAIO. Rather than focusing on circularity in theory, we will look at what happens when companies actually try to make it work: From pilot to scale – What changes when a circular solution needs to become continuous, reliable, and scalable? From technology to business case – What does it take for a circular solution to become an investable and competitive proposition? From company to value chain – Which customers, suppliers and partners are needed to make circular models work beyond the boundaries of one organisation?
16:45–18:00	Networking drinks	Continue the conversation with speakers and fellow participants.

Who is this for?

This session is for professionals who are working to move circularity from ambition towards implementation within their organisation.

It is particularly relevant for sustainability, circular economy, innovation, operations and strategy professionals from industrial and manufacturing companies, as well as organisations working across their value chains.

Whether you are developing circular products, exploring new business models, investing in recycling or trying to scale an existing initiative, this session offers an opportunity to compare approaches and learn from organisations facing similar questions.