Romain Dufrasne becomes CEO of Ecosteryl

Created in 1947, the former Ateliers Mécaniques du Borinage (Mechanical Workshops of Borinage) have transformed into Ecosteryl in the 2000s, under the guidance of Philippe Dufrasne.
Today, and after 4 years as CEO (and a total of 15 years working in Ecosteryl), Amélie Matton, who brought Ecosteryl to the success and notoriety it enjoys today, is passing the torch to Romain Dufrasne, 36-year-old, grandson and son of the founders, and the new CEO.

Romain Dufrasne, a vision focused on innovation in the service of major environmental challenges.

Ecosteryl is in his DNA, his soul. His path was destined and laid out since his earliest childhood. However, should we take over the management of a family business? Is it intended for us? Romain Dufrasne, after completing climatology training, first turned to a career in France and England in the sports world. It was a way to explore different operational and management methods. Building on his other experiences, he joined Ecosteryl 7 years ago and held positions in various departments. This allowed him to master all the needs and challenges. He was still Head of the HR, and Technical and After-sales departments yesterday.

Administrator as his brother, Olivier Dufrasne, his father, Philippe Dufrasne, and Amélie Matton, he has been involved in all strategic decisions for many years now. Upon his arrival at the company, he contributed to establishing a corporate culture by promoting a collective spirit. The DNA of the company is characterized by a strong mission and values.

His strengths? Calm and thoughtful, Romain Dufrasne has a historical knowledge of Ecosteryl, its products, its customers and partners. He allows an easy and obvious transition for teams that know him very well, and he himself has a mastery of the current challenges of the company’s various departments.

Romain Dufrasne is driven by environmental initiatives more than anyone else. He is indeed the one who worked extensively on writing our CSR report and led the strategy around our circular economy projects.

His vision for the coming years is clear: “I want to steer the company based on the major environmental and societal challenges. We have obtained labels, measured data, carried out a carbon assessment and a CSR report. Today management must make decisions that bring about changes in line with the 3Ps: people, planet and profit.”

His objectives for our products are: to lead the company towards more innovations with an extended range of machines, to have the most self-sufficient machines in terms of energy, to establish strategic partnerships, to meet the needs of new hospitals in terms of rapid disinfection of medical waste, to offer complete turnkey disinfection and sorting platforms, and, knowing our Belgian ecosystem very well, to enhance its presence in our market.

A well-considered change in good governance to help Ecosteryl grow

Among the four Executive Directors (Philippe, Romain and Olivier Dufrasne and Amélie Matton), a desire to redefine the functions has been considered to strengthen Ecosteryl in its long-term development. The governance bodies serving the executive and management have also been redefined after a guidance work.

Olivier Dufrasne, Romain Dufrasne’s brother, involved with Ecosteryl for 15 years, including 10 years as commercial director, will take care of a strategic committee which is an advisory board serving the executive, and will continue to represent Ecosteryl internationally during royal, princely, economic and commercial missions.

Amélie Matton, engaged for 15 years within Ecosteryl, will continue to support the Board of Directors through key strategic missions until next summer before making her expertise available for new ambitious entrepreneurial projects.

Amélie Matton, the one who went through all the steps

15 years ago, she started as an intern after studying management engineering (LSM) and in 2020 she was appointed CEO after proving herself in the various departments of the company.

In her role as CEO, she experienced the sudden onset of a global health crisis in 2020, the development of the product range, the expansion of the teams and the production hall, and more recently the acquisition of the B-Corp label.

She has been awarded prestigious prizes such as the Bold Woman Award from Veuve Clicquot or the Walloon Merit.

Ecosteryl, a company created in Jemappes (Mons) and today active on the 5 continents

Since the 2000s Ecosteryl, under the idea of Philippe Dufrasne, has focused on medical waste. A waste that is mainly incinerated and causes pollution while it could be reused.

A hospital bed produces an average of 1 kg of medical waste per day. This waste must be disinfected. In light of these conclusions and the necessity for a lasting solution, the historical workshops have started to develop and create a disinfection machine. This idea has really been successful and transformed the old workshops. The range of machines has continued to expand to meet the numerous international demands.

The Ecosteryl machines equip hospitals or treatment centres. They can continuously, quickly and 100% electrically disinfect several tonnes of medical waste per day and sort nearly 2 tonnes of decontaminated waste per hour. Today, Ecosteryl is experiencing continuous growth. Its machines are installed in more than 65 countries on the 5 continents.

The range of products also includes a decontaminated waste sorting machine. This machine paves the way to the circular economy of medical waste. This machine called R-steryl represents a genuine breakthrough in this field of activities.

There are 45 employees at the company. They are active either in the manufacturing workshop (Jemappes) or in the offices and assembly workshop (Mons – zoning Initialis). Many employees are also active abroad.

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For press : communication@ecosteryl.com