Building on its successes in mainland France, the leader in electromechanical composting aims to develop internationally and in the French Overseas Territories. In the meeting, where Upcycle is represented by the company Neogreen Indian Ocean, the French solution is attracting more and more interest.
Created in 2011, Upcycle is a French social utility company that develops innovative electromechanical composting equipment with associated software allowing live monitoring of compost formation.. UpCycle also specializes in supporting its customers — shopping centers, communities, associations d’insertion, businesses — to make them autonomous in the valorization of biowaste and enable them to implement the most ecological solution on the biowaste market. There is no shortage of arguments, indeed, in support of company projects. The energy transition law as defined in 2015 plans to reduce the landfilling of non-hazardous waste by 50% by 2025 compared to 2010.. Today, the vast majority of biowaste is still buried or incinerated. Composting represents a key factor in the environmental transition, but also the fight against global warming and the desertification of soils by improving their structure and fertility while reducing the production of greenhouse gases. “Beyond its electromechanical composting solutions, Upcycle is 100% intended for the success of a system in which it believes and which combines installation support and environmental performance, economic and social, explains Grégoire Bleu, founder and CEO of Upcycle.
A growing market
Offering its solution to more than 100 customers, the company is already positioned as the French European leader in electromechanical composting. It equips customers who produce food waste, but also offers solutions for housing in communities. Examples ? During the year 2022, Upcycle inaugurated the installation of a composter in the Borgo penitentiary center, in Upper Corsica, as part of an environmental project developed with staff and inmates. Last summer, Upcycle equipped the Rungis market to compost 500 kg of fruit and vegetables lost every day. Upcycle also implemented seven voluntary contribution points last June (PAV) for food leftovers generated by residents of the Bordeaux metropolis. Since mid-October, five municipalities of the Saint Germain Boucles de Seine Urban Community, in Yvelines, are equipped with 40 voluntary drop-off points. In partnership with Triéthic, a local integration company, Upcycle will compost residents' food waste. Upcycle is in charge of raising awareness and mobilizing the inhabitants of these municipalities to achieve a goal of 40% of the population served within twelve months.
A recognized ecological leader
The company has also just inaugurated an electromechanical composter in Rodez, in Aveyron. The Aveyron waste union is making this investment. Food waste from 5,000 residents will be collected to be treated by electromechanical composting. In November, it will be the turn of the waste treatment union Smiton Lombric, in Seine-et-Marne, to equip themselves with an electromechanical composter for the food waste of the inhabitants of Melun Nord. Upcycle has just published a PAV guide for decision-makers in local authorities who must take into consideration, besides the price, the sobriety of the PAV in terms of production, transport, practicality and maintenance logistics. Upcycle has also participated in national and international trade fairs such as ChangeNow or VivaTechnology. Since September 2022, the company is recognized as Greentech Innovation, label initiated by the Ministry of Ecological Transition and Territorial Cohesion.
Upcycle’s prospects
UpCycle wishes to continue the deployment of its composters at food waste production sites. The regulatory context is favorable since the law provides that by the end of 2023 all producers of food waste must have organized a sorting system, collection and recovery of food waste by composting or methanization. Upcycle's ambition is to enable one million French people to sort and compost their food waste using its composter within three years. ! Present in France, in Switzerland and Belgium, the company aims to develop internationally and in the French Overseas Territories with facilities in Reunion Island, in Guadeloupe, in Italy, in Montenegro and Morocco.
THREE QUESTIONS TO YANNICK SETTAMA AND ALEXANDRA TIREL,
DIRECTOR AND PRESIDENT OF NEOGREEN INDIAN OCEAN
Neogreen Indian Ocean represents Upcycle in Reunion. How is Upcycle’s offering innovative? ?
Upcycle is a technical solution for the management and recovery of biowaste from A to Z. The company offers the only electromechanical composting equipment manufactured in France currently in existence., as well as various bio-waste collection accessories. This composter produces standardized compost. Depending on the nature of the biowaste collected, we add wood to achieve the Upcycle recipe. We have at the outlet a high quality organic fertilizer.
What is the working principle of the machine ?
The composter is connected and monitored from mainland France by Upcycle. All information relating to compost production, starting with its temperature, are accessible online. After a first cycle of fourteen days, we reuse part of the first compost produced to restart the biological activity of the bacteria which decompose the bio-waste. Compost production then becomes daily, depending on the size of the composter. The compost falls and fills big bags. One hundred kilos of bio-waste produce around 50 kg of Upcycle compost.
Who are the users of the Upcycle solution in Reunion? ?
For the moment, the solution is especially of interest to places with a lot of restaurants. The composter in service at the E.Leclerc de la Réserve center since last year allows restaurants in the shopping mall to recycle their daily organic waste instead of throwing it away.. The composter produces between 35 and 40 kg of compost per day, made available to market gardeners working with the brand. We are in discussion with the E.Leclerc des Terrass center in Saint-Joseph. The Colosse park in Saint-André will also soon be equipped with an Upcycle composter which will be made available to its 14 catering establishments.
