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We live in a linear throwaway society. You take raw materials, you make a product and you throw it away. And yet something is moving: instead of discarding products, we recycle them, pass them on, refurbish them,… In short: linear becomes circular. Leasing – in which use and not ownership is central – can play an important role in that process. That is why the Belgian Leasing Association has drawn up a charter in which all members commit themselves to financially support the circular economy through leasing. How exactly do they do that?
The aim of the charter is to ensure that entrepreneurs' circular projects receive better and faster support from the financial sector. The example below shows how leasing companies can do this.
Suppose an entrepreneur wants to offer smartphones to his/her employees. This is often an expensive and complicated matter: they contain sensitive information and also many valuable components. In such a case, leasing can offer a solution. If you choose to rent the smartphones from a leasing company for a certain period of time, you as an entrepreneur have a lot less to worry about. For example, you do not have to buy smartphones yourself, you always have a number of devices in stock and you can monitor every smartphone via a digital platform. At the end of the rental period, the smartphones are returned to the leasing company. Once the appliances are completely emptied, they are given a second life on the second-hand market in Europe. Defective smartphones are then recycled by recognized partners so that the raw materials are not lost.
Are you an entrepreneur and do you want to put this example into practice? Then check the general terms and conditions on page 12 in the charter.