In the 1990 in Flanders (northern Belgium), reuse shops were established with social and environmental purposes. The products delivered to the reuse centres are considered “goods without value” by the parties that discard them and, consequently, are delivered to the reuse centres for free. Non-reusable goods are not accepted. The goods collected receive a monetary value following their sorting process and preparation for sale at the reuse centres. The number of reuse shops increased from 81 in the year 2000 to 124 in 2014, and at the same time the number of customers increased, from 1.56 million to 5 million over the same period. The trend to deliver goods to reuse shops has constantly increased since the 1990s and the turnover of reuse shops in the year 2014 reached EUR 45.4 million.
