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Waste collection, recovery and disposal activities

NACE 381
Current registrations422
Starters, 12 months · division 38
126
Employment (FTE) · division 38
20,501
Median age · division 38
13.2 years

In NACE division 38, 7.6 companies per 100 started in the past twelve months, against 7.5 nationally; that is higher than that of 53% of the 87 NACE divisions. Comparison: as of 05-10-2026 05:30.

Key figures for NACE division 38

fiscal year 2025 · median over 731 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
38.5%
lower than 77% of 79 divisions
Median equity
€526,138
higher than 91% of 79 divisions
Median net result
€24,154
higher than 76% of 79 divisions
Annual accounts in sample
731

Foreign control in NACE division 38

998 registered companies

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 38

380 employers
Median
€67,800
Belgium €61,300
Middle half
€55,500 to €80,200
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
33 of 78
by median staff cost per FTE
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €62,800 €50,900 to €76,200 171
10 to 49 FTE €70,100 €57,700 to €80,100 145
50 to 249 FTE €73,700 €67,100 to €87,700 50

Bankruptcies

past five years
Bankruptcies (5y)
12
Historical share
2.84%

Nationally, 1.61% of current registrations have a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. This sector's historical share is higher than that of 84% of the 88 NACE divisions. The median bankruptcy probability in NACE division 38 is 0.4%, against 0.2% nationally, over 1,060 scored companies. Comparison: as of 05-10-2026 05:30.

Regional split

by region · 280 of 422 enterprises with a registered office on file
Flanders 181 · 64.6%
Wallonia 84 · 30.0%
Brussels 14 · 5.0%
Unknown 1 · 0.4%

Recent bankruptcies in this sector

8
Date Company
23-09-2026 BKS Services
BE 0787.759.566
24-06-2026 TYRE RECYCLING BELGIUM
BE 0806.415.042
28-05-2026 GULDENTOPS
BE 0779.462.603
08-12-2025 Van Paepegem, Melissa
BE 0829.288.137 · sole trader · Ninove
27-10-2025 Rekup
BE 0767.400.553
15-09-2025 BELFORCE IMPEX
BE 0746.986.805
31-01-2025 Dubois, Michael
BE 1002.846.574 · sole trader · Oupeye
05-11-2024 ANATA-BELGIUM
BE 0534.792.474

Geographic distribution

by province · based on the establishment address
fewer moremax 49

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €79.2m awarded 254 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies investeringen materialenbeheer lokale besturen
  • Federal transfers 48.5m amount as published 9 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Dotatie aan de NIRAS voor het technisch passief van het IRE (gedeelte afval en bestraalde splijt- stof).
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €7.8m paid 3 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Subventions forfaitaires dans le fondamental
  • EU budget €28.0m attributed share 17 recipients · 2021 to 2025 · largest: Innovation Fund
  • EU research €17.7m eu contribution 31 recipients · 2009 to 2026 · largest: Horizon Europe

Explore every recipient in this sector

How these figures are counted

Current enterprise registrations are counted through their registered main activities; establishment units are excluded. Counted in the KBO's NACE 2025 nomenclature, the one in which code 381 exists.

Share of currently registered companies with a published bankruptcy opening in the past five years. Registered main activities in the selected classification can overlap. This retrospective share is not a future bankruptcy probability.

The comparison with the country and with the other NACE divisions comes from a nightly overview of every division, each counted in the nomenclature in which it exists. A standing such as "higher than 80%" counts the other divisions that have the figure. The bankruptcy probability is the median of our nightly score over the division's companies that have one; the count is stated.

The key figures cover the whole NACE division 38, not NACE 381 on its own: there are too few filed annual accounts per five-digit code to compute them separately. The middle company of the sector, based on all filed annual accounts.