The third cycle of the Brussels Region’s Citizens’ Assembly for the Climate focuses on the sharing and collaborative economy. On this occasion, we spoke to Cécile Riffont, from the Resources-Waste department, and Pietro Fragapane, from the Transition Economy department of Brussels Environment, to shed light on a model largely driven by local citizen initiatives.
Missions Publiques: What is the sharing and collaborative economy about?
Pietro Fragapane: The sharing and collaborative economy is based on a simple principle: minimize the extraction of new resources as much as possible and optimize the use of those already in circulation. Concretely, this means favouring sharing, repair, and reuse over linear consumption (produce, consume, throw away). Collaborative economy initiatives rest on three key elements: the resource: the good or service one is willing to share, whether it’s an object, a space, a skill, or a service; the community: a group of people who mobilize around this resource with a goal of serving the common good; the Governance: the set of rules the community establishes to organize access, use, and sharing of this resource to ensure it functions properly.
In Brussels, this approach is essential because the city faces major challenges in resource management, waste, and consumption. Today, there are over 1,500 volunteers and 440 employees engaged in these collaborative initiatives, which also create jobs (227 full-time equivalents). About 49% of the funding for these initiatives comes from public subsidies, while others operate on a mixed model combining memberships and self-financing.
"These initiatives show that it’s possible to adopt more responsible consumption habits without compromising our comfort or access to the items we need.
@bryapro photography
Cécile Riffont
Project Manager, Resources-Waste Department, Brussels Environment
Missions Publiques: What are some concrete initiatives that are currently working in the Brussels region?
Cécile Riffont: Brussels is brimming with innovative initiatives that benefit everyone. Among them: Tournevie: a tool library that allows you to borrow rather than buy DIY tools; Babythèques: nine structures in Brussels that let parents rent baby equipment (bottle warmers, car seats, travel cribs, etc.) instead of buying them; Bike libraries: available in eleven neighbourhoods, offering families the option to borrow bikes suited to children’s needs. There are other models abroad as well: sports equipment libraries or placing lockers in high-traffic areas (shopping centers, metro stations, etc.) so people can pick up rented items (like steam cleaners, drills, etc.) independently. These initiatives show that it’s possible to adopt more responsible consumption habits without compromising our comfort or access to the items we need.
"The goal is therefore to fully integrate the sharing and collaborative economy into the daily lives of people in Brussels.
@bryapro photography
Pietro Fragapane
Project manager of the Economy in Transition department at Brussels Environment
Missions Publiques: What are the main challenges for scaling up these practices?
Pietro Fragapane: In the area of mobility, many projects have successfully convinced a certain audience and have developed significantly (such as Cambio, Villo, etc.). As for other initiatives—although they are promising—several obstacles still hinder their large-scale deployment. First, there’s price sensitivity: the rental or borrowing fee is limited by competition from entry-level new products. This situation threatens the ability of these organizations to fully cover their costs, endangering their economic viability. Higher costs could be offset by increasing the volume of activity, but that requires time and significant investments—resources that can be hard to find for civil society project leaders. Optimizing territorial coverage is another challenge: properly tailoring these services to residents’ needs and ensuring accessibility is crucial. Finally, reliance on volunteers can still complicate the sustainability of some projects.
Missions Publiques. What is the long-term vision for the sharing and collaborative economy in Brussels?
Cécile Riffont and Pietro Fragapane: Ideally, it would be a city where every resident can easily access sharing, rental, and repair services, where buying new becomes the exception rather than the rule. The goal is therefore to fully integrate the sharing and collaborative economy into the daily lives of people in Brussels. This implies strong public policies, suitable infrastructure, and collective engagement. The sharing and collaborative economy is not a constraint; it’s an opportunity to rethink how we live together, in a more sustainable and solidarity-based way.
