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Waste collection, recovery and disposal activities

Current registrations 272division 38: 1,627
Starters, 12 months 51.8 per 100 · Belgium 8.9
Bankruptcies, 12 months 13.7 per 1,000 registrations · Belgium 6.2
Employment (FTE) 7,606106 employers · latest accounts
Median age 25.1 yearsBelgium 8.1 years
E-invoicing via Peppol 96.0%261 of 272 companies in the Peppol Directory · Belgium 85.0%

Filed accounts

NACE 38330 · financial year 2025 · 230 filed annual accounts
Median solvency
42.3%
division 38.8% · Belgium 46.1%
Median net result
€72,848
division €33,112 · Belgium €16,500
Median equity
€1.2m
division €621,984 · Belgium €98,350
Loss-making
21.0%
division 29.3% · Belgium 26.7%
Negative equity
3.5%
division 10.4% · Belgium 12.4%
Median return on equity
10.1%
division 8.8% · Belgium 15.9%
Median liquidity
1.47
division 1.43 · Belgium 1.66
Filed late
24.5%
financial year 2024, 237 filings · division 32.3% · Belgium 38.4%
Missing or 90 days late
0.8%
of 241 companies with annual accounts · division 4.8% · Belgium 5.4%
Per financial year202020212022202320242025
Median solvency 36.1%35.5%37.8%39.6%40.3%42.3%
Median net result €61,092€95,203€71,769€86,361€93,966€72,848

Hold your customer's or competitor's figures against them in the Sector benchmark

Bankruptcies

Bankruptcies, 5 years, still registered
2
0.74% of the registrations · Belgium 1.68%
Running bankruptcies
4
14.7 per 1,000 registrations

Recent bankruptcies

Date Company
07-05-2026 2SMART2WASTE
BE 1007.467.338
02-08-2023 GREEN POWER PITTEM
BE 0452.919.526

Every bankruptcy in division 38, last 90 days

Spread across the country

by region and province · 260 of 272 enterprises with a registered office on file · a sole trader has no published seat
  • Flanders 187 · 71.9%
  • Wallonia 61 · 23.5%
  • Brussels 11 · 4.2%
  • Abroad 1 · 0.4%
fewer moremax 57

Largest employers

NACE 38330 as first main activity · staff from the latest accounts
  1. 1 RenewiLommel 1,526 FTEfinancial year 2026
  2. 2 TIBICharleroi 685 FTEfinancial year 2025
  3. 3 INDAVERBeveren-Kruibeke-Zwijndrecht 580 FTEfinancial year 2025
  4. 4 INTERCOMMUNALE ONTWIKKELINGSMAATSCHAPPIJ VOOR DE KEMPEN AFVALBEHEERGeel 470 FTEfinancial year 2025
  5. 5 Intercommunale de Gestion de l'EnvironnementTournai 406 FTEfinancial year 2025

Joint committees

from the latest accounts of 125 companies
  • 200 Auxiliary committee for white-collar workers 73
  • 121 Cleaning 30
  • 142.04 Recovery of raw materials 23
  • 124 Construction 21
  • 140.03 Road transport and logistics for third parties 19
  • 207 White-collar workers in the chemical industry 14
  • 226 White-collar workers in international trade, transport and logistics 14
  • 116 Chemical industry 12
Show the 12 others
  • 100 Auxiliary committee for blue-collar workers 6
  • 142.01 Recovery of raw materials 4
  • 145 Horticulture 4
  • 140 Transport and logistics 3
  • 142.03 Recovery of raw materials 3
  • 132 Technical farming and horticulture work 2
  • 142 Recovery of raw materials 2
  • 102.05 Quarries 1
  • 140.04 Airport ground handling 1
  • 140.05 Removals 1
  • 144 Agriculture 1
  • 326 Gas and electricity 1

Source: the annual accounts at the National Bank. One filing can name more than one committee.

Division 38: Waste collection and treatment

Related activities

1 other activity
Activity Registrations Starters, 12 months Bankruptcies, 12 months FTE
Waste collection, recovery and disposal activities38320 58 1 1 767

Bankruptcies per year in division 38

Per year201520162017201820192020202120222023202420252026
Bankruptcies16191310151113818142012
Jobs lost29933110262823844533845

2026 through June. Every bankruptcy, also of companies that have since left the register. Source: Statbel (Directorate-General Statistics), NACE classification of 2008.

Staff cost per FTE in NACE division 38

379 employers
Median
€67,800
Belgium €61,400
Middle half
€56,100 to €80,600
half of the employers lie between
Place among sectors
33 of 78
sectors with a median staff cost per FTE, highest first
By size class
SizeMedianMiddle halfEmployers
fewer than 10 FTE €63,000 €52,400 to €76,100 172
10 to 49 FTE €70,300 €57,600 to €81,600 143
50 to 249 FTE €72,600 €67,100 to €87,700 50

Foreign control in NACE division 38

983 registered companies

Subsidies in this sector

per register · legal entities with an enterprise number
  • Flemish subsidies €79.2m awarded 251 recipients · 2022 to 2025 · largest: Subsidies investeringen materialenbeheer lokale besturen
  • Wallonia-Brussels Federation €498,572 paid 2 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subventions aux associations reconnues à durée indéterminée dans le cadre du décret du 17 juillet 2003
  • Federal transfers 143.3m amount as published 9 recipients · 2023 to 2025 · largest: Subsidie aan het IRE voor de verwerking van
  • 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

Insights on Waste collection, recovery and disposal activities

Balance sheet and result. The median net result of €72,848 is above Belgium's €16,500. 3.5% of the annual accounts show negative equity, against 12.4% in Belgium. Return on equity of 10.1% is below Belgium's 15.9%.

Bankruptcies. The median bankruptcy probability of 0.3% is above Belgium's 0.2%.

Inflow and structure. Half of the companies are younger than 25.1 years, against 8.1 years in Belgium. 4.4% of the companies are sole traders, against 41.6% in Belgium. In 12 months, 1.8 of 100 companies started, against 8.9 in Belgium. That is fewer than in 92% of the 87 NACE divisions.

Staff and filing. 24.5% of the financial year 2024 accounts were filed late, against 38.4% in Belgium. The 5 largest employers hold 3,667 of the 7,606 FTE: 48.2%.

Direction. Median solvency rose from 36.1% in financial year 2020 to 42.3% in financial year 2025. The median net result rose from €61,092 in financial year 2020 to €72,848 in financial year 2025.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other divisions is as of 08-11-2026 05:30.

Method and sources

Every company registered today counts under its main activities in the KBO. Establishment units do not count. Staff counts once, under the employer's first main activity, from its latest accounts and only where it fits the staff costs. The count follows the NACE 2025 classification, the version in which code 38330 exists.

The bankruptcies over five years count only companies still registered today, because the activity of a company that left the register is not kept. So they are fewer than the bankruptcies of those years, and the figure is not a probability for the future. Over twelve months the count is nearly complete, because a bankrupt company stays registered while its bankruptcy runs. A company with more than one main activity counts in each of those sectors.

The comparison with Belgium as a whole and with the other NACE divisions rests on an overview of every division, counted again each night. Each division is counted in the version of the NACE classification in which it exists. A standing such as "more than in 80%" compares with the other divisions that have the figure. A division's bankruptcy probability is the median over its companies with a score. Belgium here counts the 1,276,474 companies with a main activity, because only those belong to a division. The other 699,509 registrations publish no activity.

Each median is the value of the middle company, computed over the annual accounts of financial year 2025, and is shown only from 30 accounts. A share (loss-making, negative equity) counts that year's accounts with that trait. Accounts are late when they are filed after the statutory deadline. The direction per financial year follows the companies still registered today. Missing or 90 days late counts the companies with accounts missing today, or whose latest were filed more than 90 days after the deadline. The dossier follows the same rule.