Gescol SAS BIC

GESCOL SAS BIC is a circular economy company transforming industrial footwear waste—primarily safety boots—into high-performance construction and infrastructure materials, while extending the lifecycle of usable products through remanufacturing strategies.

In Colombia, labor regulations require companies to replace safety footwear every four months, generating millions of discarded boots annually. Most of this waste ends up in landfills or is incinerated, contributing to environmental pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. GESCOL addresses this systemic problem by creating a closed-loop solution that captures value at every stage of the waste stream.

Our model is built on a triple monetization approach: we collect post-industrial and post-consumer safety boots through paid waste management services, process them using a patented mechanical recycling technology, and transform the recovered polyurethane into durable, high-performance products such as anti-fatigue flooring, acoustic panels, and structural components. These products are then sold back to the same industrial clients, effectively closing the material loop.

Each product manufactured with 2 kg of recycled polyurethane avoids more than 9 kg of CO₂ emissions compared to virgin materials, and our impact has been independently validated through a Climate Impact Forecast (CIF), confirming significant and positive environmental impact. By replacing virgin polyurethane and preventing improper disposal, GESCOL reduces emissions, resource extraction, and industrial waste simultaneously.

Beyond recycling, GESCOL operates through three integrated circular strategies: RE+ (waste recovery and transformation), Cycle+ (remanufacturing and lifecycle extension of safety footwear), and Legacy+ (social redistribution of refurbished boots to vulnerable communities). This allows companies not only to manage waste sustainably, but also to generate measurable environmental and social impact.

Our long-term vision is to build modular circular plants that can be deployed across regions, enabling localized material recovery and manufacturing hubs. These plants are designed to process multiple types of polymer-based waste, positioning GESCOL as a scalable platform for circular material innovation beyond footwear.

By turning mandatory industrial waste into certified, high-performance materials, GESCOL is redefining waste management as a profitable, scalable, and impact-driven business model.