At Petit Lux, a bakery-caterer in the 14th arrondissement, returnable boxes have been well adopted by customers.
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F. Pouliquen / 20 Minutes
The idea is simple: pay, once, two euros more expensive for the takeaway that one goes to seek in the restaurant of his district.
We rinse the box and bring it back, either to exchange it for a new meal, or to recover his two euros
Restaurants, bakeries and other businesses specializing in take-out meals are gradually being convinced by this system of returnable and reusable containers, rather than the trays to be thrown in the trash.
Behind, companies are created to wash and make available these boxes to restaurants.
Like Reconcil in Paris which, after restaurants, is now targeting bigger players such as those in digital cuisine
Rain and a little chilly wind… At Le Petit Lux, you will be told that the weather forecast all week in the capital is conducive to “having a hot meal at lunchtime”.
And thereby to make a small gesture for the planet.
In this bakery-caterer in the 6th arrondissement, popular with students and workers in the neighborhood, all the hot dishes - from "veal liver-mashed potatoes" to "Toulouse sausage-lentils" - are housed in the same brand and served in a thick polypropylene plastic container with a blue lid.
In other words, solid that it would be a shame to throw in the trash once the meal is finished.
On the one hand, because it washes very well.
On the other hand, because it will cost you two euros.
“This is the amount of the deposit,” explains Corinne Carnet, the manager.
The customer pays it once, leaves with his meal, eats, rinses the box and brings it back at noon.
In exchange, he gets his two euros back if he does not take a hot dish, or a new box, otherwise.
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"We could wash up to 15,000 boxes per day"
Laundry boxes do not stay long at the Petit Lux.
Twice a week, Reconcil, to whom they belong, picks them up.
The tour does not only pass through the Petit Lux, but through the twenty other restaurants in Paris where Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston's company provides its containers.
Then direction rue d'Aubervilliers, to the north of the capital.
This is where Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston set up the Reconcil offices, largely occupied by a washing tunnel, a sort of giant dishwasher.
“The boxes are pre-washed there, then washed at 64 ° C and rinsed at an even higher temperature (85 ° C), which leaves no chance for any bacteria,” says the entrepreneur.
All in thirty seconds flat.
"Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston and his partner did the math:" we could wash up to 15,000 boxes per day, they say.
And each container can be washed and reused thirty to forty times before being removed from the circuit.
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This is the heart of Reconcil's approach: "offering restaurants to take out disposable packaging to prefer reuse logic", "in the same way that you don't tear your clothes when you come home at night or you don't break your plate and your glass once the meal is over, illustrates Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston.
Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston in the foreground, founder of Reconcil, surrounded by Nicolas Djamdjian, his partner (on the right) and Micha Mendy, the company's first employee.
- F. Pouliquen / 20 Minutes
160 million meals delivered in 2018
The stakes are high.
Food delivery in France is booming with 160 million meals delivered in 2018 and a market growing by 20% in 2018, according to figures from the research firm The NPD Group.
Obviously, behind, there is packaging waste.
The Ministry of Ecological Transition puts forward the figure of 180,000 tonnes per year for the fast food sector.
"These packaging are not all recyclable or, when they are, are not always placed in the right trash to be effectively recycled", slips Alice Abbat, consignment officer at Zero Waste France, an association working for the advent of a zero waste and zero waste society.
"And even when they are actually recycled, it is for a completely different use," she continues.
We are therefore not in the optics of creating boxes designed to last, to be washed and put back several times in the circuit.
"
Nothing better then, for Zero Waste, than the re-use and the systems of returnable and reusable containers that Reconcil seeks to adopt.
Not that Reconcil, moreover specifies Alice Abbat.
“Noww (No Waste in the world), Milubo, La Consigne Greengo have a similar approach in Ile-de-France.
And we must also add "In a box the dish" in Toulouse, "Bring your dish" in Lille, "Boxeaty" in Bordeaux, "LoopEat" in Montpellier, "Dabba" in Grenoble.
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A dynamic revived after confinement
There are still only drops of water on all meals taken to take away or deliver in France.
Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston says it bluntly: her washing tunnel is not working at full speed.
“The best month was February with 4,000 boxes rented from the various restaurants in our network,” he says.
The confinement has brought the dynamic to a halt, which has only gradually picked up in recent weeks.
“People are still teleworking a lot,” blows the entrepreneur.
At Petit Lux, returnable boxes made their return to the window in mid-September.
Corinne Carnet still keeps a set of disposable trays in reserve for passing people.
“Or, more rarely, refractory customers, often because they don't think they are disciplined enough to think about bringing the box back,” says the shopkeeper.
We surveyed our customers last January, before calling on Reconcil, to get their opinions on returnable boxes.
We had collected 90% yes.
It even brought us new customers, sensitive to the zero waste approach.
»An observation also made by Gloria Avila, including« La Cantina de Gloria », a small caterer recently opened in the 11th district and which very quickly adopted the returnable boxes of Reconcil.
It is very well accepted in the neighborhood, especially young people, some of whom already had.
And then, it's a way to stand out, to start a conversation with customers… ”
Also reach bigger players
Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston still has to expand its network of restaurateurs.
“The idea would be to reach 100 within six months,” he announces.
To do this, the entrepreneur does not only intend to knock on the doors of restaurants and small food shops in the capital.
It is also targeting bigger players in digital cuisine, specializing in the delivery of cooked meals at home or at work.
The Frichti, Foodcheri, Nestor ...
The context lends itself to it in any case.
In early July, Brune Poirson, at the time Secretary of State for Ecological Transition, brought together these large take-out catering platforms to ask them how they plan to achieve zero waste.
In Frichti, we claim to have tackled the subject well before the meeting, "in particular by introducing a new range of more responsible packaging a year and a half ago," specifies Julia Bijaoui, the co-founder.
The containers for the meals are now in kraft or bagasse [sugarcane waste], each time biodegradable.
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In February, Frichti also launched into collective catering with Cantine 2.0, which allows employees of the same company to group their orders.
A new offer that could allow it to go further in an eco-responsible approach.
"In any case, it is easier to envisage collecting our packaging from sites which group together several orders", notes Julia Bijaoui.
Discussions and tests are underway.
On the composting of our packaging with actors such as Les Alchimistes.
But also why not on the deposit for reuse with Reconcil.
"
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Also more occasional washes at Reconcil
While the rental and washing of food boxes for take-out catering remains Reconcil's primary activity, it is also opening its washing tunnel to more occasional services.
This is the "third party" offer, describes Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston, this one without subscription and which helps traders who occasionally find themselves with a large quantity of dishes on their hands.
This is how Reconcil came to wash the glass jars of yoghurts from the Laiterie de Paris, located at Goutte d'Or (18th arrondissement) and which has set up its own deposit system.
"The difference with our classic offer is that these jars are the property of the trade," explains Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston, who would like to develop this offer, in particular by extending it to brewers in the Ile-de-France region wishing to set up a deposit system.
The problem: “Our washing tunnel can wash plastic or glass cans, but not bottles,” says Sofiane Hassaïne-Teston.
The Parisian is currently seeking funds to buy a washing station that would remove this obstacle.
Here again, Zero Waste France supports the process.
“In France, we had a whole network of glass bottle washing stations that we gradually lost in the 1980s when we entered, regrets Alice Abbat.
It must be reconstructed if we want to relaunch the deposit for reuse in France.
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