• Three former colleagues from the medical world launched the Rennes association for compost at the start of the year.

  • By bicycle, they collect food waste from cafes, hotels and restaurants.

  • This bio-waste is then transformed and recycled into compost which will be sold in the coming months.

They all wanted to change their path when the coronavirus landed in our lives. Worn out by the medical world but above all motivated by the desire to act for the planet. Former work colleagues, Sophie Gimenez, Amel M'Sadek and Hélène Pecoil now form the Rennes du compost team, an association that was created in February in the Breton capital.

For the past month, they have been crisscrossing the city center with their electric bikes to collect food waste from around fifteen cafes, hotels and restaurants.

A paid service that starts off pretty well, judging by the content of the buckets and bins they carry, filled with fruit and vegetable peelings, leftover meals, eggshells or coffee grounds.

Very often, this organic waste ends up buried or incinerated when it can be recovered.

“This bio-waste is mainly composed of water, it is absurd to burn water!

», Emphasizes Hélène Pecoil.

Between six and nine months to obtain mature compost

With her two associates, she therefore trained to learn how to transform this waste into compost. “It's not very complicated but you still have to take care of it,” she says. Because we will not obtain compost by simply throwing waste in a composter ”. The process is also quite long as it takes between six months and a year for the compost to mature.

To store the hundreds of kilos of waste collected each week, the Compost Rennes have a large 1,500 m² site made available to them by the Jardin des mille pas on the Prévalaye site in Rennes.

"But we will need a second pitch fairly quickly," said Amel M'Sadek.

Once their compost is ready, they will then sell it to individuals or professionals.

“We are still thinking about what form it will take, but our compost will in any case be certified,” emphasizes Sophie Gimenez.

"We no longer throw our food waste in the trash"

But before celebrating their first batch, the three partners must play the VRP in the streets of Rennes to present their service to traders. “We hope to gain around forty new customers each year,” explains Sophie Gimenez. In any case, their initiative won over the Magic Hall team, a small 3-star hotel located rue de la Quintaine in the city center. “We pay attention to sorting in the establishment and we try to throw away as little as possible,” says Elisa, executive assistant. But food waste accumulates quickly and we sometimes have no choice but to throw it away ”.

Through their approach, the three “composters” also intend to educate professionals and the general public on the issue of waste.

With a key word: "We no longer throw our food waste in the trash," they say in chorus.

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Crowdfunding campaign ends soon

To help them finance their project a little, and in particular the acquisition of two new electric bicycles, the Rennes du compost has launched a call for crowdfunding on the Helloasso platform.

The campaign ends this Friday with around 16,000 euros which have already been collected on a target of 22,000.

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