There are some 400 posts to be filled in Wallonia in the waste and recycling sector. Trade federations go4circle and Coberec launched the site Recyclingjob.be this week in order to boost applications, they announced in a press release on Tuesday.
"Companies in the sector are experiencing difficulties in recruiting profiles such as chauffeurs, crane operators, laboratory assistants, electromechanical engineers ...," Stany Vaes, the managing director of go4circle and quoted in the press release, stipulated. "If these labour shortages are currently slowing down development in the sector, that will only be made to escalate over the next few years in view of the expected deployment of the circular economy."
Regrettably, recycling had a negative image, the associations explained. However, the handling of waste resulted in the creation of jobs that were not at risk of relocation. People were taken on by firms based on their acquired experience and not the qualifications they had obtained, and the jobs offered real opportunities for development, Vaes emphasised.
In line with a resolution adopted unanimously in April by the Wallonian parliament, the circular economy should be creating more than 36,000 jobs in Belgium between now and 2020, go4circle and Coberec recalled.
The Brussels Times
