In Lyon, the Alchemists organize the virtuous collection of food waste

Protect the planet because the earth makes us live! This is what is close to the heart of this chef from Lyon. And these are not just empty words! Bernard Mariller acts. To give a second life to the remains of his restaurant, he calls on Les Alchimistes, a food waste recovery and processing company based in Vénissieux in the Lyon Metropolis.

Exit the waste! Instead of throwing away the waste which is expensive to destroy, restaurants but also cafes and school canteens entrust it to the Alchemists. The company, which has branches in several regions (PACA, Hauts-de-France, Paris region, Midi-Pyrénées, etc.), is responsible for transforming them into compost. On its Vénissieux platform, in the Lyon suburbs, waste is sorted and mixed with dry wood. Everything macerates for 4 months to turn into compost.

1,400 tonnes of food waste are handled in this way each year. This noble material is then marketed within a radius of 30 km to be reused as fertilizer. A virtuous circle.

Food waste represents 30% of our gray bins. If since 2012, only people who produce or hold a large quantity of bio-waste have the obligation to sort it and have it recycled in appropriate channels (such as composting or methanization), the sorting of food waste will be compulsory in France for all in 2024.

Indeed, the law provides that all individuals have a practical solution for sorting their bio-waste at source before 2025. At the domestic or local level, they can be transformed into soil or fertilizer that can be used for gardening via a garden composter or a vermicomposter.