For four months, the association La Chaîne verte has been collecting organic waste from several restaurants to make compost. A new green sector in Burgundy, which has already proven its worth in other regions.
It is nine-thirty this Friday morning when a cyclist pulling a cart filled with large blue plastic crates, stops in front of the Menuiserie restaurant, in the city center of Dijon. This morning cyclist is Guillaume Rodriguez, 37, former employee in sanitation. He is also one of the co-founders of the association La Chaîne verte. Every Friday, he leaves empty plastic bins in front of the establishment, and takes away those that the restaurateur has filled with his organic waste, throughout the week.
The goal is to add value to this waste, by making compost, a natural fertilizer of excellent quality for crops.
The Menuiserie restaurant is one of the very first customers of La Chaîne verte. The establishment pays 60 euros per month for the collection of its waste. An approach in line with its values: “We offer clean and ethical gastronomy,” assures Nicolas Delinage, the chef. Composting is the end because the peel is viable until the end, and returns to the earth. ”
Once the waste bins are loaded on his trailer, Guillaume Rodriguez gets back on his bike and continues his tour. Two other establishments use his services. The environmental activist started from the observation that kilos of peelings and food scraps go into the trash every day, when they could have a second life, and limit the volumes sent to incineration. “We take all food waste produced by kitchens with the exception of oils, water and oyster shells which are difficult to compost on our scale,” explains Guillaume Rodriguez.
Collect from Dijon professionals
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An offer that is in addition to that already existing in Dijon. “In the Dijon metropolitan area there is already a composting offer for individuals, we said to ourselves why not offer a solution to professionals knowing that in 2024 there will be an obligation to sort waste at source for the the entire French population, ”he adds. In addition to the three restaurants in the city center, the association also works with an Ehpad, which it visits every Tuesday. In total, his weekly rounds would allow him to divert about a ton of food waste per month from the incinerator.
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Once all his bins are loaded, Guillaume Rodriguez sets off for Longvic, five kilometers from the city center, where his composters are located.
Compost organic waste
The municipality has made land available to the association. Food waste is stored in these large wooden tanks for nine to twelve months, until it turns into compost on its own, which will be sold to individuals.
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The association currently only has one employee, Guillaume Rodriguez himself. He would like to recruit volunteers, to ramp up and, perhaps, hire a second person, in a few months. But, for that, it would not need four customers, as it does today, but thirty! In Dijon, the experience is still embryonic. Other similar initiatives are having remarkable success in other regions, such as Alchemists, one of the pioneers in the collection of bio-waste, already established in Paris, Lyon and Lille.
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