Vianney Delcroix: "Small steps can help make a big difference"

With an engineer’s eye for detail, Business and Technical Development Director Vianney Delcroix is focused on making the business run as efficiently as possible

The modern world is complicated, and we are all faced with daunting lists of tasks and responsibilities. Deciding what is worthy of our attention and what needs to be quietly ignored can be a challenge in itself.

I am an engineer by training, and I have always been fascinated with little details. When you are getting deep into the finer points of a complex industrial process, it helps to have a strong natural curiosity.?

I have spent years in this industry holding different positions such as business analyst, recycled materials buyer and extrusion process expert. With all this experience I am now in charge of the research and development and cost engineering projects within Cedo Group.

Our process involves transforming waste plastic into bags sourced from various outlets: industrial waste, agricultural waste, and plastic from domestic recycling bins.

Surprisingly, industrial and agricultural waste are more straightforward to recycle than household waste. Farm waste, though dirty, is easily washable, while industrial plastic waste is consistently high in quality.

Conversely, household waste poses challenges. Inadequate cleaning and the presence of greasy food waste make the process more difficult and energy-intensive.

The level of contamination in waste determines how difficult it is to recycle, because our machines have to clean the plastic and separate it from any unwanted materials.

I could talk for hours about the tell-tale signs showing that one piece of plastic is not as pure as another. When it comes out of a machine you can pull it this way and that, and the look and texture will tell the trained eye all it needs to know about its purity.

Not everyone gets as hooked on details as I do. And I’m not just like this at work. I’m fascinated by history and geography and I like to get very immersed into those too. My friends jokingly call me Wikipedia, and my general knowledge can be very useful when it comes to a pub quiz, even if I’m not so good on the sports questions.

As for plastics, it is my job to get deep into the details. Most people don’t need to do this. But if everyone took a few moments to make sure that their waste is clean and separated before it goes into the recycling bin, it would dramatically cut the cost and environmental impact of the whole process. With small steps, we can all make a big difference.