La Plaine Chassart: The circular economy at the service of Wallonia's soil

This article is part of a series dedicated to exploring the journeys of the winners of Go Circular 2. In this series, we highlight the inspiring initiatives of the winners. La Plaine Chassart specialises in the production of substrates from local waste, including soil waste and organic waste.

The Circular Economy at the Heart of the Approach For over 15 years, La Plaine Chassart has been producing blends of earthy substrates from beet washing soil. During the beet cleaning process, a large amount of soil is detached and ends up as sludge mixed with water. Generally, this soil is spread over fields.

Thanks to the project for which La Plaine Chassart is a laureate of the Go Circular call, La Plaine Chassart is pushing circularity even further by integrating new sources of raw materials: excavated soils. These are classified into different categories according to their quality, level of pollution, and the type of use they can be assigned to, and are often underutilized. Faced with the surplus of excavated soils on the market and the lack of receiving sites—especially for high-quality soils—a large number of these soils end up being used for secondary purposes (recreational, commercial, or industrial developments), a phenomenon known as "downcycling" or devaluation.

In contrast, La Plaine Chassart focuses on "upcycling" by revalorizing these excavated soils into fertile substrates (including the incorporation of compost), thereby increasing their usefulness and added value. This process reintegrates these soils into a productive biological cycle, reducing waste and promoting more sustainable management of raw materials.

Substrates Adapted to Walloon Soils La Plaine Chassart’s innovation lies not only in the revalorization of excavated soils but also in the adaptation of substrates to Walloon soils. La Plaine Chassart develops specific blends to meet the needs of farmers, gardeners, and landscapers, offering in particular:

• Vegetable garden substrates, optimized for market gardening

• Amendments for sandy soils, improving their water and nutrient retention capacity

• Blends for heavy soils, promoting aeration and soil structure

These products provide solutions to local issues and offer a more sustainable alternative for Walloon professionals and individuals.

Territorial Synergy and Local Development One of the pillars of La Plaine Chassart’s project is the establishment of collaborations with local stakeholders.

As a green waste dumping platform, La Plaine Chassart collects waste from garden contractors. These mixed wastes are sent to composting centers such as BEP. Once composted, the compost returns as a raw material in the blends for earthy substrates.

Excavated soil is received by local partners to create the blend needed to produce a quality substrate. Establishing territorial synergy among local actors strengthens their resilience and reduces their dependence on external resources.

These new partnerships focused on circularity allow La Plaine Chassart to create new products, thereby expanding its existing range.

Meeting the Transport Challenge A major challenge for La Plaine Chassart is the high cost of transporting certain batches of quality soil. To address this, the company has established partnerships with transporters whose vehicles return empty, thereby halving transport costs and making the process more profitable while reducing its environmental impact.