“Take off the masks!
The operation launched in January by the company Recnorec, located in Plaisir (Yvelines), is talking about it in Ile-de-France.
And for good reason, it could be THE most effective surgical mask recycling solution to date in France.
“Unlike what is done elsewhere, we do not need to remove the rubber bands and the metal nose clip from the masks before recycling them,” explains Ugoline Soler, the founding president of Recnorec.
Its innovation is therefore faster, less painful and above all inexpensive.
To understand the technique that the company is currently developing, we have to go back to 2018, the year it all began.
Surrounded by a team of ten people, Ugoline Soler is developing a process for recycling plastics that are not recovered in existing circuits.
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“Either because they are too dirty, or too mixed with other materials, or even too processed, details the self-employed person.
To recycle them, they would have to be washed, which represents too high an environmental cost, or else perform unacceptable manual actions by sorting the waste.
"
"We considered them as an ingredient of our materials"
Recnorec recovers these plastics and develops “recipes” which combine the different polymers that make them up, transform and stabilize them to form a more or less rigid material, the use of which is multifunctional like wood.
But, with the health crisis, Ugoline Soler was approached by several public and private actors, asking if its concept could not allow the recycling of surgical masks and FFP.
“At first, I didn't want to ride the crisis at all because I didn't find it healthy,” she recalls.
Rather than creating a solution dedicated to masks, we considered them as an ingredient of our materials, and it worked!
"
The waste is crushed then heated and transformed into a building material.
Recnorec
Proud of these observations, the manager therefore launched a crowdfunding campaign aimed at companies and communities wishing to contribute to the development of her activity.
The mayor of Plaisir, “support from the very beginning of Recnorec”, immediately started.
“I immediately joined his project, which I find very innovative,” says Joséphine Kollmannsberger (DVD).
Only 10 to 20% of waste is recovered in France
By paying 5,000 euros for research, the municipality was given containers with masks to place in its premises that Recnorec is working to recycle for three months.
"We set up a challenge between the services to collect as many masks as possible," continues the elected.
It raises awareness about the use of masks that we see blooming all over the public space.
You never know where to put them, in the classic basket… It is not very hygienic for the cleaning staff.
"
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The town of Voisins-le-Bretonneux has also been seduced.
"We kill two birds with one stone: we do something good for the planet, and we help a local business to develop," smiles the mayor, Alexandra Rosetti (UDI).
Then it was the town hall of the 9th arrondissement of Paris that joined the adventure, followed by that of the 17th, which had just signed with Recnorec.
The mayor of Plaisir, Joséphine Kollmannsberger (left) is an early support for Ugoline Soler.
Recnorec
"The masks pose a big problem because people put them in the yellow bin and they disrupt the household waste recovery chains", regrets Geoffroy Boulard (DVD), the mayor of the 17th century, also a member of the Syctom strategic committee.
And Ugoline Soler reminds that only 10 to 20% of all the waste produced is currently recovered in France.
The machine is already well started.
If she cannot find the additional partners to complete her budget of 30,000 euros necessary for the study which continues until May, the president of Recnorec says she is ready to move them forward, her results being very encouraging.
“We will then equip ourselves with machines to create a small artisanal production line that could be operational this summer,” announces Ugoline Soler.
We should be able to recycle 100 kilos per month, the equivalent of 25,000 masks.
"
Fundraising of 3 million euros
By the end of the year, she hopes to open a factory, ideally in Plaisir, to industrialize her activity.
This will be able to process up to 3,000 tonnes of waste per year, and produce as many materials.
As to what will become of these factory-produced Recnorec plates, the company has no need to worry.
The Yvelines departmental council has already undertaken to integrate them into the equipment of its colleges.
The town hall of Plaisir is also studying the possibility of using them in its schools.
Anyway, each tonne of material produced saves three tonnes of CO2, in particular because it does not store fossil carbon, but above all because it is, of course, infinitely recyclable.
Recnorec is launching a fundraising of 3 million euros to make its project a reality. All interested funders, businesses and individuals can contact the company via its website (www.recnorec.fr).