Grégoire Bleu sums up what guided his choice of career path after graduating from ESCP in 2003: "Do something useful for the world". Four questions to this innovation enthusiast and bearer of solutions on the impact of waste on the environment.
What guided his choice of direction on leaving the ESCP in 2003, Grégoire Bleu sums it up in a few words: "Do something useful in the world". He travelled all over the world as sales manager for a large fair trade food company and continued to question the impact of human activities on the environment. In 2011, he advises Cédric Péchard, an agri-development engineer who explores innovative approaches to the economy. In 2014, he left his job and took over UpCycle alongside Arnaud Ulrich, who was interested in growing plants at home after an experience in a large DIY store. Combining their skills around their strong desire to reduce the impact of human activities on the environment, the three partners developed a technique to produce oyster mushrooms from coffee grounds. And their oyster mushrooms are arriving on the finest French tables. In 2016, customers asked UpCycle for recovery solutions beyond coffee grounds, particularly for table waste. The team then embarked on the composting adventure, which led in 2020 to the creation of an electromechanical composter made in France, which Hectar has just equipped.
Our machines, the Demeterra, allow non-experts to compost all types of bio-waste on site and without any nuisance. They produce high quality compost, which is a great basis for soil improvement and fertilisation.
Our composting tool is a low-tech and biomimetic innovation. A bit like a forest where the leaves of the trees turn into soil, it is a large bacteria reactor. It is important to understand that any material that breaks down is "digested" by bacteria, then by fungi and various insects. Our composter accelerates the cycle of these bacteria, so we obtain compost in 2 months instead of the usual 6 to 12 months. This saves space, avoids the use of a garbage truck, and produces its own fertilizer.
Yes, this is the double virtue of the compost cycle. In addition to the savings on waste treatment, it makes the waste bin manager a compost producer, which is a much more rewarding activity. It is also a resource for the soil because compost contributes to the fertility of the soil with a very rich organic matter, free of residues. It is a very interesting alternative to artificial inputs in agriculture and market gardening. So not only does the user of a composter limit the carbon impact of his waste, but it changes the way we look at waste, which becomes a resource for another activity. Quality compost is an indispensable resource for agroecology projects.
The impact is visible on several levels. First of all, it is a lever against waste because the daily attention paid to waste sorting invites everyone to re-examine the incoming flows. In concrete terms, in a kitchen that practices composting, we optimise resources and reduce the waste of raw materials by 20 to 40%. The best waste is the waste that is not produced!
Secondly, the composting process has an impact on local life: for example, in one city, a local integration association operates the composter, delivers compost to the neighbourhood and offers activities. In the heart of a private site, it is a collective restaurant that delivers compost to a market gardener who supplies it with vegetables. These practices create local links. At UpCycle, we provide the equipment and all the necessary know-how to carry out the project: it is up to the actors to invent their own stories around waste management and compost that will be local stories.
Beyond the need for compost for their crops, farms have the opportunity to develop new activities with UpCycle electromechanical composters. Catering or processing activities on the farm which require the recovery of the waste produced, but above all the recovery of bio-waste from restaurants, supermarkets or private waste.
With the richness of urban organic waste, they have the opportunity to develop new income but also to access richer compost. This is the meaning of the installation of the Demeterra composter at Hectar: the compost will be produced from the waste of the surrounding private and public actors, and will go directly to the plots of land. It is a concrete step towards autonomy, towards the resilience of the territory. Always a story of cycle!
