A meeting with Monique, an enthusiastic Field Promoter
A veritable hub, Monique is tasked with ensuring that information gathered in the field is forwarded to Bebat. But this kind of communication also, and mainly, runs in the other direction, since there are many specific activities conducted by Bebat regarding the different types of collection points.
Varied contacts
From the moment the supermarket opens, Monique is on the go. After her visit to this collection point for used batteries, she has yet to cover many kilometres to visit other stores, businesses, recycling centres and schools.
It’s this variety in the kinds of contacts I have that I particularly enjoy in my job as a Field Promoter. I love adjusting my message to my interlocutor, as you can’t speak the same way to a company and to a teacher
Safety first
The aim of her tours? ‘We conduct different sorts of campaigns depending on the type of collection point. In stores, I deliver the collection barrel, I check if it’s still in good shape, and I request its pick-up by Bebat when it is full.’
At businesses, besides delivering the materials, it’s mostly a matter of conveying a series of information points about safety: ‘Used batteries in this context may be more dangerous than the common household variety’, affirms Monique. At recycling centres, her role is to explain to the inter-municipal staff how to stock the batteries and conduct the safest possible collection.
Monique covers the province of Liège and Luxembourg four days a week for Bebat.
Bebat’s little ambassadors
Bebat has put together a special programme for schools that is different from those for other collection points. A system of compensation that benefits everyone: 1 kg of collected discarded batteries is equal to 1 point. Within three years , the school exchanges these points for educational materials, multimedia, craft supplies, to be chosen from the catalogue of Bebat and its partners. Why this programme? ‘We start out with the assumption that once they are made aware and develop a habit of sorting, children become the spokespeople for Bebat with their parents.’
Monique's tip
So as not to forget to take her used batteries to the collection point, Monique has a fail-safe method: several times a year, for example when doing spring cleaning, she checks over the house, collects all the batteries and checks whether or not they are still working. She puts the used batteries in a bag and places it right in her car. ‘Easily visible on the passenger seat, I am sure not to leave them in a corner somewhere!’
Surprise!
Working a 4/5 part-time schedule, Monique covers the province of Liège and Luxembourg four days a week. Sometimes she has some surprising encounters during her travels.
All sorts of animals cross the road. Once I even found myself face to face with some lamas!
She also meets some celebrities during her public presentations: the French actor Jean-Pierre Castaldi, or Robert, who shares his tips as a handyman in a show called “Une brique dans le ventre” (RTBF). ‘Another time, at a fair we organized in Brussels, we saw the arrival of a bunch of security personnel: 100 metres from us, they were escorting Queen Mathilde and Princess Elisabeth!’
