French carmaker Stellantis and Galloo, a metal-recycling company based in Menin, West Flanders are set to begin negotiations on a joint venture company, the two parties announced in a joint statement on Monday.
The future joint venture will offer recycling services for end-of-life vehicles from Stellantis – Peugeot, Citroën, Fiat, Opel – and other carmakers. The activities are scheduled to be launched in late 2023 in France, Belgium and Luxembourg, before being rolled out across Europe, according to the statement.
Galloo already recycles car carcasses on a large scale in the three countries. Every year, it gives a second life to more than a million tonnes of metal from various sectors. Advanced software the Belgian company acquired in recent years is to form the basis of a new dispatching system that will make it easier for motorists to get rid of their wrecks.
The recycling trade is going through a difficult period in Europe, Galloo CEO Rik Debaere explains. End-of-life vehicles are becoming a scarce commodity due to falling new-car sales and the fact that many carcasses are being shipped out of Europe.
With their joint initiative, the two companies aim to keep more carcasses in Europe so that raw materials that are still useful can be recovered locally.
Galloo is a family business with 42 branches. It was a finalist last year for the Flemish Company of the Year award.
