VIDEO. This construction company near Rouen is innovating for a greener glass industry
In France, 97% of end-of-life bottles are not recycled. 200,000 tons of glass are thrown into landfills every year. Figures that are no longer acceptable to MCP carpentry manager Jean-Benoit Zacharie. He found a solution to limit the damage.
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3 min
At the age of 36 and with an annual turnover of €5 million, Jean-Benoit Zacharie could continue his small lifestyle at the head of the MCP carpentry company in Pavilly. But it happened without knowing this person. ”
With the joint funding of BPI and Ademe, we carried out the Eco-Flux diagnostics. We measured all the flows of the company. And we realized that our main source of pollution is glass. »
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The company specializes in home renovation and mostly carpentry. Thus, 25 employees advise, measure and replace joinery at the end of its life, for example, windows. ”
Every year we throw away tens of tons of bottles. It is either mixed with the debris or buried. In any case, they are not recycled.
“We built an in-house solution”
”
It was no longer possible, no longer acceptable. We had to be proactive. It’s all the same absurdity: we know how to recycle and we don’t.
This realization takes place at the beginning of 2022. And after six months of thinking, “
we were able to build an internal solution: towards green glass.
»
But it is not as simple as it seems. You have to remove the windows”
remove the glass from the chopper and cut the glass into small pieces.
Labor intensive operation. Then the company approaches the integration workshop and enlists the help of several employees. MCP menuiserie also took the opportunity to contract with major glass specialist Saint-Gobin and its glass recycling sector in northern France. ”
Big bags are sent there and the bottle is put back into production.
“On the financial side”
it is almost a white operation. We don’t do it for the money.
»
Mobilization of an entire sector
In six months of activity, Jean-Benoit Zacharie has already produced 20 tons of cullet.
equivalent to six tonnes of CO2.
“And the militant entrepreneur is not going to stop in such a good way:”
My ambition for 2023 is to move to 120 tons of recycled glass, which means 36 tons less CO2.. But for that we need to federate the Normandy sector: “
We are becoming more professional day by day. We would like to become a regional glass recycling center in the near future.
»
A new push
For his initiative, Jean-Benoit Zacharie received the Paris-Normandy editorial award from Normandy4Good. An award promoting virtuous economic initiatives undertaken by Norman companies. ”
First, it made us realize how right we were.
The awarding of this award also brought the film “Toward the Green Glass” into the spotlight. ”
This media coverage will allow us to move faster in the development and implementation of our solution. I hope this will create awareness among my colleagues and actors in the building. »
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