Towards a sustainable museum: M’s Ecoteam

Vast quantities of materials used to be binned after exhibitions: panels, furniture, plinths, dirty carpets ... Nowadays, M thinks long and hard about used items. What can be reused, repurposed or recycled? Benedicte Dierickx, depot manager and a member of the Ecoteam, explains.

The mindset has totally changed

Benedicte Dierickx

Depot manager and a member of the Ecoteam

Benedicte: “In the past, we only tended to think about making the exhibition spaces as attractive as possible. We barely stopped to think about giving used materials a second life. In a nutshell: it was too easy to chuck stuff into the skip.”

“But M has had an Ecoteam since 2013: we’re a group of employees dedicated to raising our organisation’s awareness about sustainability and how we can put it into practice. In 2022, we were the first Flemish institution to join Ki Futures – an international guidance programme that helps museums and other cultural institutions meet their sustainability goals. A Ki Futures coach gave us ideas and methods. We’ve learned more about sustainable materials and alternatives.”

“Using this knowledge, we have devised a waste policy with the Ecoteam. Since then, it has been the guiding principle for our colleagues when deciding what to do with materials at the end of their useful life.”

Bouts for the Scouts

“Our first reflex is always: what can we reuse for the next exhibition? Glass and curtains can often be redeployed, whether in a different form or arrangement or not. The same goes for plinths, display cases and the beams that are used in the partition walls. Of course, we don’t throw away seats either: we recover them to suit the next exhibition.”

“Much depends on the value and condition of the material. Because bricks are easy to reuse, we’re more likely to return them to the supplier or sell them. That’s not always possible with wood, especially if it is sawn or painted. We also take a lot of stuff to the Materials Bank, where anyone can come along and make a purchase.”

“And what we really can’t sell, we donate to youth groups, amongst other things. Used carpets, for example, or leftover paint – you can make a Scout association very happy with a simple pot of paint. And visitors to the amazing Bouts exhibition may recall the corridor filled with black canvases: we also gave them to the Scouts.”

Zaalzicht 'DIERIC BOUTS. Beeldenmaker', 2023, M Leuven, foto: © Useful Art Services

Naar een duurzaam museum: het Ecoteam van M — © Elias Derboven voor M Leuven

In dialogue

“We also try to avoid waste as much as possible. Before we buy new materials, we automatically ask ourselves whether we can reuse them later. An example: unless there is no alternative, we never stick things together with glue. The lack of adhesive makes everything easier to dismantle and the elements can then be reused. Thanks to improved administration, we can now see exactly which display cases we have in stock – in the past, it would have been faster to order new ones.”

“Regular engagement with the scenographer or artist is also crucial. If they want to buy new materials, we ask them if it’s really necessary: maybe they can achieve the same effect with what we already have in-house?”

“We hardly ever asked these kinds of questions in the past. We’re now several years in, and I must say: the mindset has totally changed.”