It could be one more ecological gesture, during these end-of-year celebrations, a continuation of the hummingbird movement initiated by the essayist and defender of organic farming Pierre Rabhi, who died on December 4. What if you brought your oyster or scallop shells back to the fishmonger to recycle after the meal with your loved ones?

This is the original idea of ​​the young Ramonville start-up Providentiel Coquillages, created in 2017, which is experimenting with this seasonal recycling at four Toulouse fishmongers, from December 24 to January 5: Chez Jeannot (Jeanne d’Arc), La marinière (Victor-Hugo market), The fishmonger of Bonheur (Saint-Cyprien) and La marée Toulousaine (Carmelite market).

150,000 tons per year wasted

Nothing complicated for consumers. Bins to receive the oyster shells will be available from the fishmongers’ partners in the operation. Just remember not to throw in the trash and take it back to your merchant.

Providentiel Coquillages takes care of the rest. This is because the shell is wasted each year – out of 150,000 tonnes consumed, only 5% are recovered – while it has ecological and nutritional benefits, especially for chickens.

This is, in the first place, what put the ear to one of the two co-founders of the start-up based in Ramonville-Saint-Agne, Daniel Moukoko, and whose eco-responsible project has seduces the oyster farmers of the Thau Basin (Hérault).

A project supported by partners

Since then, the start-up has collected 8,000 tonnes of shells which are transformed, washed, heated, crushed by a subcontractor to be finally transformed into food for galliformes. But also as substitutes for pesticides in agriculture, breeding, or as mulch in the garden, filtering water and cosmetic products.

“At the start, it’s all silly, it’s watching my cousin give shells to his chickens that I’m interested in the question,” explains Daniel Moukoko. Ecology, of course, is DNA, the heart of our fight for the circular economy and zero waste. It goes through small gestures. And then the oyster shell heals the soils that are normally treated with lime. “

The Providentiel Coquillages project, which was the subject of two years of studies at INP Toulouse (polytechnique), received the approval of the town halls of Paris and Toulouse and is “encouraged” by Ademe ( Ecological Transition Agency). The start-up has also surrounded itself with several partners, including the Occitanie Regional Council.