Circular Business Awards: an award-winning Brussels company

From Brussels to Hainaut, Snappies is a Brussels-based start-up that is making its name in the washable, circular diaper market. Nominated from among 8 Belgian companies, its sustainable project won second place in the Circular Business Awards. Interview with Maximilien Ernst, co-founder.

‘Snappies is an example of a dynamic start-up’, noted Roland Moreau, member of the Circular Business Awards jury, on 14 March, at the ceremony honouring the best circular projects from Belgian companies. Out of 44 entries, 8 were nominated, including 2 companies from Brussels. One of them took second place with the Silver Award, behind Juunoo, a company specialising in sustainable construction. Snappies is a company that makes washable, circular diapers for use in day care centres.

Launched by Maximilien Ernst and Aymeric de Pret, Snappies delivers clean nappies and collects dirty nappies, cleans them, dries them and returns them to the day care centres. ‘We offer this service while also supporting the day care centres in the correct use of reusable nappies. We want to keep control of the whole process,’ explains one of the co-founders. In Brussels, the company delivers the nappies by cargo bike. An initiative that appealed to the Circular Business Awards jury.  

You were selected from 44 projects for the Circular Business Awards, and you won the Silver Award. What does this mean to you?

It's brilliant. I was positively astonished. I didn't know any of the other companies taking part. During the ceremony, I was chatting to one of them and someone said to me, ‘We're a 7,000-person company’. I was very surprised because there are only five of us. We don't have the same impact or the same business model. They are global players, whereas we are based in Brussels and Hainaut. So I was very pleased that the jury took into account the impact and potential of our company, rather than its size. This will increase our credibility, and of course our visibility too. We're often asked whether we're really ‘circular’ or ecological. Here, we have the proof that a panel of experts in the fields of the environment, ecology and business circularity have told us ‘yes, you are a circular company’.  

In fact, Roland Moreau, a member of the jury, said that you were an example of a dynamic start-up in the circular economy. How do you feel about that?

Very proud of course, because we feel recognised. Aymeric - the co-founder - and I have been working for four years cleaning dirty nappies and convincing customers, sometimes with a monthly turnover of 250 or 300 euros. We have to try and get by and live on that. It's very complicated. So to have this recognition is an enormous source of pride. Beyond that, I also hope that we can inspire others. If there are companies that follow our example and have the same impact behind it, we'd be very happy.  

How do you raise awareness of these circular nappies in day care centres?

We're really focusing on the ecological aspect. Some day care centres are aware of this and others not at all. In any case, we do our best to raise awareness and sell our product. We can now see that some day care centres are slowly deciding to move towards something more ecological. For example, we contacted the day care centre in Rebecq, between Tubize and Enghien, about two years ago, but they weren't interested. Then, three or four months ago, they called back because they had decided to look for an alternative solution. So there are certain things that are put in place by the public authorities at different levels.  

How have the day care centres in Brussels reacted to your project?

As far as local authority day care centres are concerned, we won the City of Brussels' call for tenders to switch all 40 of its day care centres to reusable nappies by the end of 2026. It was a relief because this was our first customer, and the first to have placed their trust in us. So the City of Brussels launched our eco-day care project. We went from 2 day care centres to 9, and now we're going to 40. That's fantastic. In private day care centres, on the other hand, things are still mixed. We also need the day care centres' management to agree to spend a little more money, because we cost more than disposable nappies, unfortunately.  

With five people in a company like yours, how do you manage to launch a project like this?

It's all about optimising logistics. We have a lot of faith in the workers we work with - they're real gems! But of course it's a lot of work, and you always have to be flexible. So, with flexibility and adaptation, we really do manage.  

Why was it important for you to launch a sustainable project?

There was no question of starting a business that didn't have an impact behind it. Little by little, we're having an impact on the market in which we're establishing ourselves, and that's what really motivates us today. We also really want to aim for a large share of the market in Belgium, and will perhaps be working with the cities of Ghent, Namur and Liège. In fact, we're really counting on the fact that our solution is balanced. I also think that we always have to be careful about greenwashing. I hope that, thanks to Thursday night's victory, we can demonstrate that we're not greenwashing and that there really is an impact behind it.

Interview by

Era Balaj