How are we recycling 95% of our trailers?

Ewals Cargo Care takes sustainability seriously in everything it does, from our core business of multimodal solutions to nearly zero waste recycling of our trailers. Along focusing on reducing emissions, smaller wins in minimizing our environmental impact also matter. This is why, we recycle 95% of the trailers in the fleet. All process starts from our location in Maasbree, the Netherlands. 

After a trailer has been used for the so-called first lifecycle, which is a maximum of nine years, we sell the trailer for a second lifecycle or reuse/recycle parts of the trailer. Sometimes the trailer returns to ECC to be resold, recycled, or to gain an entirely new purpose, such as – a low-speed agriculture vehicle. We also recycle our trailers into custom-made equipment. 

In short, ECC promises customers to do their best to use the materials until the end of the lifecycles. “We think it is important to contribute to a more sustainable society, and we are happy that we can use the full potential of our trailers and materials in this way”, says Dennis Steeghs, Director of Procurement at Ewals Cargo Care. 

ECC tarps as fashion accessories 

Over 22 years ago, a unique partnership started, thanks to which the tarps of the trailer are used to create an entirely new and valuable product. Via our partners and Bruil Recycling, in 2022 alone, we sold 420 tarps to Freitag – a Swiss company that makes bags, keychains, wallets and much more out of our tarps. One tarp creates 18 new accessories after 4 months of processing. It is a creative and original way to give new life to used tarps made of enduring materials and, therefore, can be a long-lasting fashion piece.  

Giving a new purpose to our trailer parts 

Also, our tires can become a part of something new and functional. They are either reused or scrapped by tire rubber companies to, for example, process them into asphalt for roads. 

Materials like rims, iron or aluminum can be reused as spare parts for our trailers like backdoors or uprights. So, first, we investigate if we can use the spare parts before selling them to a third party to reuse them. The remaining iron, aluminum and wood parts can also be sold to a third party, iron and aluminum can be melted into something new, and wood can be grounded and pressed together to generate new wood panels.