Practical information
Description
Timeline
Stakeholders
Strengths and offer
Urban logistics
Positive impacts
Needs
Logistical challenges
Practical information
What?
STALEM collects waste from shopkeepers through commercial contracts in order to recover value from it, reduce management costs and limit the presence of waste in public space. The activity combines waste collection, last-mile logistics and, in some cases, goods delivery.
Who?
The STALEM shopkeepers’ association, food retailers and horeca businesses, collectors and couriers using cargo bikes or wheeled transport, recovery partners, Bruxelles-Propreté / Net Brussel, specialised collectors, Groupe One, ULB and other partners depending on the flows.
Where?
Brussels, with an initial anchoring in the Stalingrad-Lemonnier neighbourhood and an extension towards the Marché du Midi and the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert.
When?
Started in 2019 through an initial dynamic between six shopkeepers.
First major mission at the Foire du Midi in 2023.
Extension to the Marché du Midi in December 2024.
Extension to the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert in March 2025.
Today, the network includes more than 90 partners.
Contact
STALEM Business Portal — Smart Waste Management
info@stalem.be — 0489 33 22 89
Stalingradlaan 60
Office: Boulevard du Midi 74
Resources
STALEM; phone interview with Nour; Boost Your Shop documentation; recovery partners; elements linked to Bruxelles-Propreté / Net Brussel, Groupe One and ULB.
Description
STALEM starts from a very concrete problem: in dense commercial neighbourhoods, professional waste occupies pavements, attracts pests, complicates the use of terraces, obstructs accessibility and creates conflicts in public space. The project proposes a mutualised response: organising the collection, sorting, grouping and recovery of shopkeepers’ waste in a finer, more flexible way that is better adapted to realities on the ground.
The activity is not limited to “removing waste”. STALEM carries out audits, proposes tailor-made plans, provides suitable bins and equipment, trains shopkeepers in sorting, organises regular or one-off collections, and develops a digital platform providing monitoring statistics. The interview also mentions a training centre, two logistics centres, a team combining workers, students and volunteers, as well as an electric trailer developed after two years of R&D.
For Palette, the interest of this case is that it shows urban logistics from the downstream side: not only how goods arrive, but how waste, unsold goods, oils, packaging and outgoing flows leave the neighbourhood. STALEM therefore transforms a cleanliness problem into a question of logistics, mutualisation, recovery and quality of use of public space.
Timeline
2019
Start of an initial dynamic between six shopkeepers.
2023
First major mission at the Foire du Midi.
December 2024
Extension to the Marché du Midi.
March 2025
Extension to the Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert.
Today
The network includes more than 90 partners, with an activity combining mutualised collection, recovery, fine-grained logistics and support for shopkeepers.
Stakeholders
STALEM, as the structure coordinating audits, collection, training, the digital platform and relations with shopkeepers.
Food retailers and horeca businesses, which produce waste, must sort at source and benefit from mutualisation.
Collectors, cargo-bike couriers and wheeled-transport operators, who handle fine-grained logistics in streets that are difficult to access.
Recovery partners, who take over certain flows such as coffee grounds, citrus peels, cooking oils, metal or edible unsold goods.
Bruxelles-Propreté / Net Brussel and specialised collectors, for certain flows and for coordination with existing systems.
Groupe One, ULB and other partners involved in the development, support or evaluation of the project.
The commercial districts concerned: Stalingrad-Lemonnier, Marché du Midi, Galeries Royales Saint-Hubert and other potential locations.
Strengths and offer
Mutualised collection of shopkeepers’ waste.
Logistics audit and tailor-made plan according to volumes, types of waste, access constraints and collection schedule.
Provision of suitable bins and equipment.
Sorting training through a training centre.
Daily, weekly, on-demand, emergency or one-off collections.
Digital platform providing statistics to shopkeepers.
Local recovery of part of the flows: coffee grounds, citrus peels, edible unsold goods, cooking oils, metal or other specialised flows.
Flexible fine-grained logistics solution for dense streets, construction areas or places poorly accessible to conventional trucks.
Use of bike trailers, wheeled transport and lighter vehicles relaying heavier trucks.
Development of specific tools, notably an electric trailer and a 350-litre tank with pump for cooking oils, in order to reduce pavement occupation time.
Capacity to strengthen the shopkeepers’ network and reduce costs through mutualisation.
Urban logistics
How does it work?
STALEM starts with an audit: volumes, types of waste, logistical constraints, necessary bins, frequency and collection schedule. The service then installs the equipment and trains teams or shopkeepers in sorting. Collections can be regular, urgent or one-off. In streets that are difficult to access, STALEM uses bike trailers or wheeled transport. For certain large volumes, 40-pallet trucks can handle the journey between the outskirts and the city, with lighter vehicles then taking over in the centre.
Why is it interesting?
Because STALEM shows that managing shopkeepers’ waste is a form of urban logistics in its own right. Waste does not disappear once it leaves the shop: it has to be sorted, stored, collected, transported, grouped, sometimes recovered, sometimes taken over by specialised operators. The project makes visible a flow often treated as a simple cleanliness issue, even though it also involves public space, costs, regulation, delivery rounds, nuisances and neighbourhood quality of life.
Which obstacles does it respond to?
Access difficulties for trucks and vans, worsened by metro line 3 construction works; lack of loading and unloading zones; waste remaining on public streets; pests, dirt and conflicts of use; increasing sorting obligations for professionals; dispersed costs; reduced commercial attractiveness; and the need to articulate small local flows, occasional large volumes and specialised recovery channels.
Identified nodes / obstacles
Transport; storage; packaging; time; regulatory compliance; sorting at source; collection; recycling; reuse; recovery; value for money; access to shopkeepers; construction works; handling; cooperation with public and specialised operators.
Positive impacts
Environment — reduction of some heavy journeys, better recovery of certain flows and a healthier environment if waste is sorted, collected quickly and redirected towards the right channels.
Space — less clutter, less waste on the street, better pavement accessibility, improved terraces and greater comfort in the use of public space.
Neighbourhood — fewer nuisances, less dirt, fewer pests and fewer tensions linked to waste in the street, especially in dense commercial or construction-affected areas.
Social relations — strengthening of the shopkeepers’ network, proximity, solidarity and a close relationship with the local commercial fabric around a shared problem.