• No longer want to take care of your Christmas tree after the holidays?

    In Strasbourg, a start-up takes care of everything!

    From collection to recycling.

    A service charged between 15 and 25 euros per tree.

  • “It's a seasonal business for us,” says Daniel Monjaraz, one of the five co-founders of Green Phoenix.

  • The collection is done by bike only, from individuals and businesses.

A pleasure that becomes a burden.

After the holidays, the Christmas tree is no longer really popular.

Gone are the days of admiring it, now we have to get rid of it.

How ?

There are many possibilities: waste collection centre, dumpsters made available nearby according to a specific schedule or... quite simply trash.

In Strasbourg, a start-up has opened a new path since 2020: it takes care of everything.

Green Phoenix picks up the conifer from private homes or businesses, before sending it for recycling to specialists.

"It's a seasonal activity for us," says Daniel Monjaraz, one of the five co-founders of the small company specializing in the treatment of bio-waste.



“We launched this service just to see two years ago.

It had started rather well with about fifty trees collected.

Then 150 last year and there, we hope to recover at least 200. It's off to a good start, ”continues the former business school student, who had met his associates in 2019 for a business creation competition.

With success since the quintet had won the first prize with its project, before launching.

Up to 6 trees per bike tour

A little over three years later, everyone has their role.

Aurore Gerber manages the accounting part more.

Without forgetting… to pedal!

Because the collection of fir trees and green waste throughout the year is done by bicycle hitched to a trailer that can accommodate up to six per round.

“Once, we put 7 in by cutting them out,” smiles the one who is still studying and is employed as an alternate within the structure.

That Thursday, only two pick-ups (against seventeen the next day!), are on the program.

Customers have booked their time slot online, either 4-6 p.m. or 6-8 p.m., and are now waiting to be cleared.

"We just ask them to take it out in front of their house, it's easier for us and it avoids leaving the bike alone outside", explains the cyclist, starting from the Marché-gare where Green Phoenix is ​​located.

“Of course, if the person cannot, we will pick him up directly from his home.

Once, the tree was over 2.50 meters tall, I don't even know how it got into the apartment!

»

Half an hour of pedaling later, no unpleasant surprises at the operational center of Electricité de Strasbourg (ES) located in Mundolsheim.

The three small conifers are in front of the entrance and loaded in a few minutes.

Place now at the second stop, finally rather at the quarter of an hour of bicycle which leads there.

This time, it is an individual, a thirty-year-old, who ordered the service.

The fir tree of about 1.50 m is patient in its garden and is also very quickly evacuated.

Mainly older customers

Why did you call on the start-up?

"Because we have a car but it's too small and we haven't seen any dumpsters near our home," explains Yannick, refuting the idea of ​​a citizen gesture.

Because he could have placed it in his household waste by cutting it a little or even throwing it anywhere in the street as some allow themselves to do... "No, in order not to have to take care of it, I was ready to pay 20 euros.

»


The prices vary according to the size of the tree: from 15 euros for the smallest, to 25 for those up to 2.80 meters.

“If people make a mistake, they are asked for the missing amount, but that happens very rarely, specifies Aurore Gerber.

We've never had any issues with customers.

“These would be mostly” elderly people “according to Daniel Monjaraz.

“Many cannot physically take care of their tree and we are here to help them.

There are also those who do not have a dumpster near their home or are not present at the time of collection.

The need is real.

»

So much so that the start-up has extended its collection perimeter to the north of Strasbourg and now goes to Neudorf, a district south of the center.

It also seeks to develop all of its activities in other cities “such as Metz, Nancy, Mulhouse or Haguenau”.

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  • Strasbourg

  • Great East

  • Christmas

  • Company

  • Economy

  • Recycling

  • Christmas tree