Q-lite

Q-lite is paragon of circular business model

Keeping out polluting materials, upgrading products to be dismantled after their useful life and recycling in-house: the way display producer Q-lite operates today is almost entirely circular. This company tightened another partnership with De Lijn in early 2024, which wanted to replace its outdated bus stop displays with energy-efficient alternatives from Q-lite.

Circular displays with a modular design
With ‘Display as a Service’ (DaaS), Q-lite offers a circular business model, where it retains ownership of a display for 7 to 15 years. During that period, it takes care of installation, service, upgrades, software and complete disassembly. When the displays reach the end of their lifespan, Q-lite can easily sort, recycle and reuse all parts. This is because the company opts for modular designs. Thus, a screw and click system allows the LED displays to be completely disassembled.

Second life thanks to recycling or upgrading
Q-lite sorts production waste and dismantled parts in-house, at its factory in Baarle-Hertog. Because it disassembles the displays into pure parts, it can separate up to 25 raw material streams and have them recycled at a high quality level in Europe. At the same time, it uses as few non-recyclable items and material contaminants as possible, such as adhesives and foams. The company can also upgrade the screens for later re-marketing.

Small carbon footprint thanks to recycled aluminium
80% of the aluminium used by Q-lite is recycled aluminium. It obtains this material from our northern neighbours, who fuse the recycled aluminium with green electricity. Thus, the carbon footprint is 20 times smaller than with standard aluminium. For other components in the product, or in its installation and packaging, Q-lite also looks for low-carbon alternatives to steel, glass and concrete foundations, for example.

Energy-efficient bus stop displays for De Lijn
A strong example of a circular project is the cooperation between Q-lite and De Lijn, which started in early 2024. Over an eight-year period, the company will install 300 - and by extension up to 500 - energy-efficient bus stop displays on behalf of the mobility player and maintain them for 15 years. Those bus stop displays will use about 75% less energy than current ones thanks to energy-efficient LED power and printing. Their modular design also allows them to be kept up-to-date for 15 years with components from different models and ranges.