The city of Rouen, like many in France, has the heart of its commercial and gastronomic activity gathered in a historic and narrow city center.
The waste collection trucks are finding it more and more difficult to move around and are less and less appreciated by local residents.
“For years, cardboard boxes have been picked up by truck in the evening and deliveries have been made in the morning.
Many traders, for lack of storage space, put the boxes in the public space.
It's not pretty and it attracts other garbage cans, ”summarizes Nicolas Zuili, the deputy in charge of the Right Bank neighborhoods.
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After a call for projects, in partnership with the recycling company Paprec, the elected officials therefore entrusted a new service to the urban logistics transport cooperative, Toutenvélo, founded in Rennes in 2015 by Samuel De Gentil-Braisis.
Specializing in removals and parcel delivery for contractors such as UPS, DHL or even commercial brands such as Biocoop, Toutenvélo embarked in July in a test phase of collecting flat and clean boxes in Rouen.
500 kg of cardboard boxes collected per week
“On Tuesday and Thursday in the Eau de Robec district and on Saturday in the historic center, we go on a tour with our cargo bike.
It is a service intended for restaurateurs, bars and small traders.
They put their packaging in front of their signs and we pick them up.
Then, we put them in Paprec skips specially installed on Place Saint-Vivien and Place Saint-Éloi.
They will be recycled later.
The professionals are really delighted, ”explains Charline Gérard, the communications manager.
The boxes collected by cargo bike are then slipped into the bins for recycling.
According to Deputy Mayor Nicolas Zuili, this experiment will be validated, “because it goes with our policy on soft travel. This replaces trucks, relieves congestion in the city center and contributes to decarbonization. This is largely positive since we collect nearly 500 kg of boxes per week. It's huge ! We will certainly have to extend it to the Left Bank, in the Saint-Sever district ”.
