Practical information
Description
Timeline
Stakeholders
Strengths and offer
Urban logistics
Positive impacts
Needs
Logistical challenges
Practical information
What?
Troc Radis is a proximity exchange system with a noticeboard or dedicated space: residents can leave still-usable objects there and take others. The initiative emerged from a wish to respond to informal dumping at the bottom of the building.
Who?
Nancy Janssens, concierge of the Radis building; residents of the building; the Radis-Marolles Social Cohesion Project; SoHab / Habitat & Rénovation; and local associative relays.
Where?
“Radis” social housing building, near the Brigittines, Rue Lacaille 4, 1000 Brussels — Marolles.
When?
The project is currently active. The exact launch date of the exchange system has not been found. The Radis-Marolles PCS has been publicly documented at least since 2022.
Contact
Nancy Janssens — 0483 61 13 17
Neighbourhood context: Claire Derache / Sophie Croisy — SoHab / Marolles social development.
Resources
SoHab; Coordination Sociale des Marolles; documents and minutes mentioning Radis-Marolles / Troc & Brol.
Description
Troc Radis is a micro-reuse system located in a social housing building in the Marolles. Its principle is very simple: a noticeboard or exchange space allows residents to leave objects that are still useful, and others to take them.
The starting point is not a commercial logic, nor a digital platform, but a concrete response to informal dumping at the foot of the building. Rather than letting objects accumulate as waste, the initiative creates a clearer threshold between what can still be used, what can be given, and what really needs to be removed.
The project is part of the Radis-Marolles Social Cohesion Project ecosystem, supported by SoHab / Habitat & Rénovation. It also connects with other neighbourhood reuse dynamics, notably Troc & Brol for the removal of heavier objects. Nancy, SoHab and the tenants are also developing a neighbourhood flea market project.
Timeline
Today
Troc Radis is currently active in the Radis building.
Since at least 2022–2024
The Radis-Marolles PCS is publicly documented as an active structure in the neighbourhood.
To be clarified
The exact launch date of the exchange system in the building has not yet been found.
Stakeholders
Residents of the Radis building, who leave, take, use or regulate the objects put into circulation.
Nancy Janssens, concierge of the building, as a central relay person in the origin and daily functioning of the system.
The Radis-Marolles PCS, as a framework for social cohesion and local support.
SoHab / Habitat & Rénovation, as a support structure for neighbourhood social development.
The Coordination Sociale des Marolles and local associative relays, which help connect the initiative to other neighbourhood dynamics.
Troc & Brol, as a possible partner or support point when certain objects exceed the scale of the building, especially heavy objects.
The immediate neighbourhood, which may indirectly benefit from fewer informal dumps and better object management.
Strengths and offer
Very local drop-off and pick-up space, directly inside the building.
Immediate reuse of everyday objects.
Simple tool for reducing waste and informal dumping.
Almost no transport: objects circulate within the building or over a very short distance.
Direct reuse without a heavy platform, major cost or complex technology.
Support for neighbourly exchange and discreet sociability.
Strong social effect: trust, proximity, attention to other residents’ needs and collective care for the place.
Reduction of the stigma that can be associated, for people in precarious situations, with picking up objects abandoned in the street.
Possible link with other neighbourhood initiatives, such as the Radis-Marolles PCS, Troc & Brol or a future local flea market.
Urban logistics
How does it work?
People leave objects they no longer use but that can still be useful. Other residents take them directly. Circulation happens at a very small scale, without commercial intermediaries, without a structured logistics round and almost without transport. The system mainly relies on an identifiable place, an implicit rule of good use and a relay person able to keep the space legible.
Why is it interesting?
Because Troc Radis shows that part of urban logistics can be defused before it even becomes a flow. An object reused inside the building enters neither the waste chain nor a new supply chain. It requires no truck, no platform, no delivery and no external treatment. The project reveals another scale of urban logistics: the building, the hallway, the neighbourhood and the capacity of a place to absorb part of its own outgoing flows.
Which obstacles does it respond to?
Informal dumping, waste management, lack of proximity reuse spaces, absence of a simple solution between “I keep it” and “I throw it away”, nuisance caused by objects abandoned at the foot of the building, and difficulty giving objects a second life without using heavier systems.
Identified nodes / obstacles
Transport; very local storage; sorting; return flows; end of life of objects; human management time; distinction between reusable object and waste; implicit responsibility; risk of clutter; maintaining the legibility of the place.
Positive impacts
Environment — indirect but real effect: fewer trips to throw things away, fewer immediate replacements, fewer objects entering the waste chain and less circulation of objects outside.
Space — potential reduction of informal dumping and clutter at the foot of the building, with a clearer distinction between what is given, taken or thrown away.
Neighbourhood — fewer tensions around waste, better local management of objects and improved care for shared spaces.
Social relations — strong impact: neighbourly exchanges, trust, proximity, attention to other residents’ needs and the possibility of creating a shared culture of reuse.