Paddle Cleaner is an association that cleans the Mediterranean on the Riviera coast of its waste in stand up paddle since November 2015 -
E. Martin / ANP / 20 Minutes
Beach, sea, garden… We take you to the great outdoors in our selection of good news for the week.
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1. The AirBNBee of wild bees
Like their domestic cousins, wild bees contribute to pollination but do not sting or produce honey.
This last point probably explains why they are so poorly understood.
"By its production of honey, the honey bee has a strong economic interest for humans and is therefore very well maintained," continues Lise Ropars.
It will last over time despite the pressures.
This is not the case for wild species, for which the risk of extinction is real, ”explains Lise Ropars, ecologist specializing in pollination at the Mediterranean Institute of Biodiversity and Ecology (IMBE).
To postpone this scenario, “A roof for bees” launched the Les Dorloteurs d'ameilles project.
The La Rochelle company offers individuals to accommodate in their garden a nesting box quite similar to the insect hotels found everywhere.
These shelters consist of tubes that a large number of wild bee species like to make their home.
The nesting boxes are also delivered with the first cocoons (collected by users), to promote the survival of the species.
In one year, the Dorloteurs have already installed 3,239 nesting boxes in France.
2. Against the Covid, robots at the front
We stay in La Rochelle with a different kind of buzz.
The one harvested by the robots of Shark Robotics.
The Charente company which had sent its Colossus to the heart of the furnace of Notre-Dame to save what could still be saved, has launched headlong into the fight against covid.
It has developed kits that allow its machines to be converted into super-decontaminators, capable of disinfecting huge areas without putting their operators at any risk.
Entirely made in France, these machines caught the eye of the giant Boston Dynamics who ordered a kit adaptable to their famous robot-dog Spot.
3. From Toulouse, co-gardening is spreading
Ten years ago, a resident of the suburbs of Toulouse launched “Plantez chez nous”, a site bringing together gardeners and landowners, ready to let them enjoy it.
"There was the will to push people to garden in a natural and local way, but also to barter, whether it be win-win for the owner of the land as the gardener, who often end up co-gardening together", explains the founder, Chantal Perdigau.
Today, its site has more than 35,000 users and nearly 7,000 advertisements, from the little piece of the garden in the 15th arrondissement of Paris to the 1,000 m2 plot of land in Saint-Anne in Guadeloupe.
Near Toulouse, Betty is one of the pioneers.
“I wanted to have contact with nature and I wanted to apply for allotment gardens, but there was an 18-month wait.
So I registered on the site and saw Bernadette's ad ”, explains the one who has been cultivating seasonal vegetables for a decade.
Before coming to her host's house, she sends him a short text, so as not to be intrusive.
In exchange for this little piece of the garden, Bernadette occasionally harvests tomatoes or potatoes, delighted to be able to eat vegetables grown at home.
4. Waste collection with an additional train
For five years, the members of Paddle Cleaner have been paddling for the climate.
On their stand-up paddle, they crisscross the waters of the Mediterranean, from Théoule-sur-Mer to Menton, to collect waste in the sea. “The idea is to combine business with pleasure,” says Geraldine. de Laugeiret, the co-founder and president.
The 50 members share the same passion for the marine world and respect for nature.
"At each session," we collect between seven and eight 100 l bin bags of all kinds of waste, "says the president of the association.
What is good with paddles is that you can access areas that concentrate all the rubbish because of the currents and which are difficult to access otherwise.
"
5. Glass packaging and against all waste
Rather than collecting them in the Mediterranean, what if we eliminate the waste at the root?
This is the project of the Etic Emballages association which has set up an experimental system of returnable glass boxes in restaurants selling take-out.
Against a subscription ranging from 20 to 40 euros per month, the network provides at least a hundred glass boxes to the restaurant owner, who in turn charges his client a deposit of 3 euros per container.
The latter is free to bring it back to his restaurant when he next purchases a dish, to one of the partner places or collection points which give them back their deposit.
“Today, we have about sixty partner shops, against thirteen at the start of 2020. With the health crisis, many people have had a reflection on ecology, those who started to make take-out did not all want to use disposable and then contacted us, ”explains Céline Gorin, one of the co-founders of Etic Emballages, whose concept is being emulated in Rennes and soon in Compiègne.
6. Alec makes education a snap
It is free until the end of June and could be of great service to you during this period of homeschooling.
The Alec online educational platform is aimed at children aged 4 to 11.
Created by the Bordeaux company EduMedia, it is inspired by a Quebec educational platform created by the cognitician, Gilles Bergeron.
"We recreated the codes of video games to obtain a very playful platform, the object being to give children the desire to learn through play, since we now know that we learn better when we is having fun ”says Lisa Bouquil, sales strategy and communication manager at EduMedia.
Through 90 games covering all the fundamentals of learning French and math, the child thus collects stones of knowledge to help Alec, a little fennec, in his quest.
At the end of the free period, the game will be offered at a price of 5 euros per month, or 50 euros per year.
7. A bright idea for parasols
“We solve the flight and the flight, simply summarizes the director of the Perpignan company Para'vols, Laurent Vignoulle.
Once these problems no longer exist, we really experience the beach in a different way.
“Against the flight, his team has developed a parasol with a foot in the shape of a shovel which serves as an anchor to the device.
And in the face of theft, the invention has another advantage: a small safe, closed by a padlock with numbers, which allows you to slip phones, keys and wallets ... Once the padlock, connected to the foot by a small cable, is open, "you use it as a handle to remove the parasol," says Laurent Vignoulle.
You shoot at 45 °, it will go up very easily.
»A brilliant invention that leaves us with only one question: when are the holidays?
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