In Lille, the deposit restarts with Le Fourgon | EUROtoday
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She chick-yellow electrical vans, residents of the Lille metropolis have grow to be accustomed to coming throughout them of their neighborhood, the place they make rounds. “We were inspired by those of the milkmen,” says Charles Christory, one of many three founders of the corporate Le Fourgon, launched in Wambrechies in spring 2021.
With his companions, Stéphane Dessein and Maxime Tharin, the 39-year-old entrepreneur campaigns for the reuse of glass containers, in opposition to disposable all-plastic. “If the plates we eat on can go in the dishwasher, why do bottles continue to fill our trash cans, whose recyclability rate is only 26%? » asks this father of three children out loud, who are not for nothing in his ecological awareness.
Washed at 60 degrees, a glass bottle can be reused up to forty times on average. “Remanufacturing after each use consumes a lot of energy. It is better to place them in a washer, with fairly closed cycles so as not to use too much water,” factors out Charles Christory.
“Relaunch the sector”
An answer already confirmed prior to now (showing in France on the finish of the nineteenth centurye century, the glass deposit disappeared initially of the Nineteen Nineties), saving assets and more healthy for customers, frightened in regards to the doubtlessly deleterious results of microplastic particles on their well being. The thought, nevertheless, is just not simple to place again into place: “We had to revive the sector, which had been devastated in France for several decades, unlike in Belgium or Germany. Everything had to start again…”
Stroke of luck: an analogous reflection sprouted in Roubaix, at Florence Duriez. This former digital director in large-scale distribution determined to vary course to launch the corporate Haut la consigne on the finish of 2020, with engineer Catherine Thiebert. Their objective? Supporting brewers, native producers and shops on the trail to reuse. They are actually on the head of a big glass container washing unit put in close to Tourcoing, in Neuville-en-Ferrain.
“In terms of supplying bottles, Le Fourgon is today our first partner,” rejoices Florence Duriez. The two corporations had been capable of depend on one another to maneuver ahead: after having collected and sorted them, Le Fourgon entrusts a big a part of its numerous containers to Haut la consigne.
The milestone of profitability at first of 2025
“The most difficult thing was the start-up, which was very expensive,” confides Charles Christory. You have to succeed in a sure quantity to final, which pushed us to take dangers. » Le Fourgon is rolling on its toes: in three and a half years, the corporate has already raised 16 million euros to develop, opened 18 warehouses all through France and attracted 60,000 clients, from Dunkirk to Toulouse through Rennes , Angers, Nantes, Le Mans, Bordeaux, Metz, Nancy, Strasbourg, Lyon, Saint-Étienne and Grenoble.
“What makes it work is that it’s easy for users: we drop off full boxes at their home, and we come and pick them up when they are empty,” observes Mathilde Pilard, head of development at Le Fourgon , which now has 320 workers.
Initially centered on the distribution of returnable drinks – water, milk, beer, and so forth. – the northern firm step by step expanded its vary. It now gives a number of hundred references of grocery, hygiene, magnificence and cleansing merchandise.
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“We are looking to ramp up further to become a true zero-waste supermarket, in which our customers could have a large part of their shopping delivered in one click,” signifies Charles Christory. Mentalities are beginning to change. Big manufacturers really feel that issues are moving into the best course and are beginning to get began, however fairly in check mode till now. »
The Van, which ought to go the profitability threshold in early 2025, continues to speed up. Last June, a symbolic milestone was reached: that of the million glass bottles and jars collected by the corporate every month. A supply of satisfaction for its creators, conscious that they nonetheless have a protracted technique to go: “In France, they level out, 36 million plastic bottles are bought each day. »
https://www.lepoint.fr/economie/a-lille-la-consigne-redemarre-avec-le-fourgon-07-11-2024-2574652_28.php