CIRCULAR ECONOMY: The compost of the gendarmes improves the grounds of the Restos du Coeur
Part of the food waste from residents of the Deflandre barracks in Dijon becomes compost for market gardening. This Tuesday, August 2, the regional referent gendarme in terms of sustainable development carried out a situation update on this experiment.
“Amend, transitive verb: in agriculture, to make land more fertile”. Through a waste reduction approach, the gendarmes of the Deflandre barracks, in Dijon, help to improve a plot of the Restos du Cœur where fruits and vegetables are grown.
Initially, the objective is to extend the practice among the residents as well as to the services deployed in the barracks. After one year, in conjunction with Dijon Métropole and the ADEME, an evaluation will be carried out in order to envisage the reproduction of the approach by other districts or communities.
This Tuesday, August 1, Commander Jérôme, sustainable development referent for the gendarmerie region, provided an update on the experiment that started on November 8, 2021 with the provision of seven voluntary supply bins.
“Recovering waste that becomes a real resource”
In 2012, the law required major producers of bio-waste to sort it at source and recycle it. Bio-waste is mainly composed of fruit and vegetable peelings and food scraps.
As of January 1, 2023, the obligation will be extended to structures generating more than three tonnes of bio-waste per year (i.e. the equivalent of around one hundred meals per day). As of January 1, 2024, all the companies concerned and the local authorities will have to offer separate collection or an organic recovery solution.
To anticipate this deadline, Dijon Métropole responded to a call for projects “Generalization of sorting at the source of bio-waste” launched by ADEME and joined the proposal of the National Gendarmerie to conduct an experiment at the level of the Deflandre barracks relating to composting.
Alfacy was selected to support this experiment. Specialized in composting, Alfacy has been helping players in the Dijon area since 2015 to anticipate changes in regulations. According to the company, “this sector is part of a sustainable development approach to recover waste that becomes a real resource”.
With the solution proposed “at the end of the field”, the compost is produced by agricultural partners who can use it free of charge on their crops for natural and local fertilization, including those who are certified in organic farming.
Already 8.1 tonnes of bio-waste sent to composting
“It’s not waste”, insists Commander Jérôme on Tuesday, “the compost we produce feeds the market garden plots of the Restos du Coeur to make organic tomatoes that go into the distribution baskets”. “It is at the same time an ecological, economic, social and united approach. We are in the values of [la gendarmerie].”
The Deflandre barracks consists of 440 accommodations. A collective restaurant produces 250 daily meals for lunch. The site therefore corresponds to the scale of a neighborhood or a village.
To date, 70 families have taken part in the process. Since last November, their mobilization has allowed 6.5 tonnes of bio-waste to escape the incinerator. Concerning the collective restaurant of the barracks, since June, the quantity amounts to 1.6 tons.
Reduction of household waste collections
“We are on a voluntary approach, (…) we have very few sorting errors”, enthuses Commander Jérôme, “it makes great compost”. A small fraction of the compost is given to families for their window boxes or for the barracks vegetable garden.
Until then, each week, three collections of household waste were carried out in the barracks: twice for the gray bins and once for the yellow bins. In the fall, there will only be one collection of gray bins per week following a diagnosis by the “sorting ambassadors” of Dieze, delegated public household waste collection service.
Alfacy ensures the traceability of compost
The 500-litre voluntary drop-off bins – i.e. 250 kg of bio-waste – are checked every six weeks by Alfacy to be emptied in a dedicated area of the market garden plot. Located in the ZAC Valmy, it is only a few kilometers from the barracks. There, the compost is made under the supervision of Cyril Casanova, another co-manager of Alfacy, who ensures traceability.
Thus, the temperature is monitored in real time thanks to probes connected under the tarpaulins to meet the regulations for the manufacture of compost, which will then allow professional agricultural use.
Compost is free, with the cost borne by the waste producer. Major Jérôme points out that, on the scale of the Deflandre barracks, the cost is similar to that of collecting household waste for incineration.
“We are joining the theme of food autonomy in agglomerations”
With this end-of-field solution, Alfacy positions itself between citizen composting and industrial platforms. “The idea is that it gets back to the farmers as quickly as possible,” insists Alice Casanova, co-manager of Alfacy.
“We went through the Covid, there is a sensitivity to sustainable development and stronger citizenship approaches”, she notes. “The awareness is that, behind, it goes to a farmer. It brings back a quality material, which supports the fertility of the soil which in turn produces food that we will eat.
“We join the theme of the food autonomy of the agglomerations”, she underlines, “the challenge being to succeed in producing as close as possible to us”.
An amendment similar to forest humus
“In conventional agriculture, we tend to bring back chemical amendments”, explains the co-manager Alfacy, “there, with compost, it’s a completely natural amendment which is close to the humus that we could find in the forest. It will serve to feed the plant and structure the soil. A soil that is too heavy, too clayey, will be lightened by adding compost. A light, sandy soil will regain body”.
“This work on the return of organic matter to agricultural soils is a major challenge for the production of the coming years, especially when we are in the context of conventional agriculture”, she analyzes.
Mathilde Duperrier, bio-waste project manager for Alfacy.
Compost for 10 tonnes of fruit and vegetables per year
Manager of the Restos du Cœur integration project where fifteen trainees are active, Javier de la Fuente welcomes this contribution of compost for market gardening.
Currently, the bio-waste from the Deflandre barracks makes it possible to produce all the compost used by the integration site which produces 10 tonnes of fruit and vegetables in a year with cultural methods inspired by organic farming. The production is intended for the beneficiaries of the Restos du Cœur.
By next November, the gendarmerie barracks says it is ready to open the lids of the supply bins to community leaders wishing to find out about the reduction of bio-waste with the production of compost “at the end of the field”.
Jean-Christophe Tardivon