Born in 1928, this old lady, far from being a sleeping beauty in the middle of the fields of Forest-sur-Marque, in the North, is more innovative than many start-ups.
Pocheco is the market leader in invoicing envelopes, with 850 million copies produced per year, but above all a pioneer in sustainable development.
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Faced with the drop in mail, Emmanuel Druon, when he took over the company in 1997, intended to reduce costs while respecting natural resources and employees.
This is the principle of “ecolonomy” - to undertake without destroying - a concept which the entrepreneur is at the origin and which he has since popularized through numerous books * and conferences.
“It's a circular approach”,
explains its promoter, who prides himself on having
“a zero waste, zero plastic, zero fossil, zero fissile factory”.
Thanks to the water captured by a green roof and 3,600 m2 of photovoltaic panels, the latter is self-sufficient in energy and water resources.
Example: water contaminated by cleaning machines is used to water the bamboo plantation, which acts as a natural purification station.
Result: change of process has reduced by 40% in energy consumption between 1997 and 2008. EUR 10 million was
i
nvestis in twenty years, which generated 15 million savings.
Zero waste bags
Committed to the environmental transition for twenty-five years, Pocheco only works with foresters replanting four to ten trees for each cut trunk. So that its activity contributes to capture 36,000 tons of CO2 per year. It only uses non-toxic raw materials such as vegetable glues or inks with natural pigments, resulting in recyclable and 100% biodegradable products.
“Certainly, when you buy these ingredients, they are more expensive, but they are also more solid, and we mix the effluents to make a gray ink, for example. In two years, we have reduced our ink budget by 25% ”,
proudly displays the director. Ditto for quality paper: 10% more expensive, it does not generate any problems, resulting in savings of 15% per year.
This model is arousing the interest of the whole world. Hence the creation, in 2009, of a consultancy firm, Open, which has already supported 250 companies, from Danone to L'Oréal via Siemens, Renault or Thalès, and today represents 20% of the Pocheco activity (10 million euros). Alas, faced with the collapse of its market and the division by two of its production in ten years, the company had to part with half of its workforce three years ago (67 people). It was then reorganized by steering committees around its activities, continuing to diversify: a training center organizing conferences, zero waste bags launched in 2020 for small businesses (already 10% of turnover) or permaculture (3 tonnes of vegetables grown by three young people on 2 hectares in the village). But,in a company where the boss calls everyone by their first name, what predominates is the place of the human being. The low margins do not allow dividends to be paid and the salary scale goes from one to four, Emmanuel Druon himself having been at the minimum wage for ten years.
* “Ecolonomy 2: the creative transformation. 100 companies are getting involved ”, Emmanuel Druon, Actes Sud.
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