Organic waste from restaurants does not have to end up in bins

18. 07. 2019
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Their mission is to put an end to the burning of biowaste. In Nantes, in the west of France, members of the La Tricyclerie bicycle tour around thirty restaurants and businesses and collect kilograms of discarded vegetables, coffee grounds and other organic waste that they then compost. The UN is also interested in this environmental initiative, AFP writes.

On his electric bicycle, pulling buckets and trash containers, Valentine Vilboux, La Tricyclerie coordinator, travels from kitchen to kitchen in the city center and surrounding area on the Atlantic coast.

La Tricyclerie

"It's simple, we take everything, including egg shells, citrus fruits, especially meat, fish and bread, ”The young woman explains, considering the last catch of the day. It is more than 20 kilograms of peel from potatoes, vegetables and coffee grounds.

This initiative was launched at the end of 2015. After the first experimental phase involving eight restaurants, it spread to 23 restaurants and nine businesses. The UN has also noted this activity. La Tricyclerie and her 26-year-old founder, Coline Billon, is one of the 12 worldwide and the only finalist in the Young Country Championships in France, where 2400 candidates initially participated. The winner will receive an 15.000 dollars prize (330.000 CZK) to be awarded in November.

"It is impeccable that we can be rewarded, even though we have not invented anything extraordinary, "Says Valentine Vilboux.

The sorting of paper and glass has already been automated, but biowaste usually ends up in a landfill or incinerator. However, this "black gold", if composted, can serve as a fertilizer for farmers. It represents a third of the waste from French households and its sorting will not be extended until 2025.

Colette Marghieri, the owner of a salad restaurant, has decided to get involved in La Tricyclerie, although sorting of bio-waste is not yet mandatory. "It is above all an act of civic awareness," he emphasizes.

We must be attentive

"At first I had some doubts about it, but it is easy and it hardly interferes with our activities. We just have to be a little more attentive. It's simple and effective at the same time. We appreciate the potato peel and we realize every day what we have thrown out“Says Guénolé Clequin, Deputy Director of the VF Restaurant, who estimates the share of organic waste in his kitchen at 20 percent.

La Tricyclerie, who has two permanent staff and a dozen volunteers wheeling round restaurants, supplies each one with material and sorting instructions for 40 euros per month (1000 CZK) and 50 euros annual contribution for the association .

"We don't just pick potato skins. Restaurants realize how they will reduce the amount of waste thrown into the bins and how they behave in an environmentally friendly way, "Emphasizes one of the volunteers Pierre Briand and mixes the smoldering compost. It will then be provided free of charge to vegetable gardens or students of the agricultural school in Nantes.

La Tricyclerie has set a goal to reduce the volume of impact from Nant's restaurants by 40 percent. Today it collects one and a half tons of waste per month. "It's a small drop, but that's just the beginning. The more restaurants they join, the more biowaste will be, "He rejoices. Thanks to this concept, which is easy to use elsewhere, La Tricyclerie has already been contacted by private individuals from Perpignan, Brussels or the French overseas department of Réunion.

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