National composting week: employees of the start-up Carbiolice talk about their personal practices!

If you haven’t got the basics yet: Carbiolice’s purpose is to provide innovative and effective solutions to eliminate plastic pollution. And for good reason! 79% of the plastic produced in the world ends its life, after a useful but often brief use, accumulated in landfills or dumped in nature for decades of pollution. Every year, 8 million tonnes of plastic end up in our oceans…

Before these plastics arrive in our rivers… Carbiolice proposes to reinvent the end-of-life of useful plastics on earth by making them 100% biodegradable and 100% compostable.

In concrete terms, the start-up has developed an innovative enzymatic additive, called Evanesto®, which allows packaging and products rich in PLA (a plant-based plastic) to be transformed into compost in less than 200 days, without residue or toxicity.

A small revolution when you consider that while bio-waste represents 30% of our residual household waste, plastic packaging represents 17%. By recovering all of this through composting, we could reduce the volume of our waste bins by almost half!

If the practice of sorting organic waste by citizens concerns about 40%* of the French (mainly by domestic composting, a minority by separated collection-5%), 39%* also declare that they want to practice it (but are not yet equipped).

This is good news when we know that in the coming years, more and more local authorities will offer recycling facilities! Indeed, the Energy Transition Law (17 August 2015) and the European Directive n°2018/851 have set an objective of generalizing the sorting at source of bio-waste by the end of 2023. Every citizen must have a disposal solution that allows him/her to avoid throwing his/her bio-waste in the residual household waste.

If you are still not convinced of the interest of developing composting, even in cities, discover the testimonies of Carbiolice employees who explain why and how they took the plunge, without waiting for 2023!

Juliette, Innovation Engineer: I compost in my flat thanks to a collective composter

“My name is Juliette Brunet, I am an innovation engineer at the start-up Carbiolice and today I am sharing my experience from my kitchen to talk about compost. I have been composting since the beginning of 2021. I started composting first of all for ecological reasons, in order to bring vegetal matter back to the earth, but also to reduce my household waste. Finally, I moved close to a collective composter, which helped me to get started! My equipment is quite simple, I use a bucket. The rest is done in the collective composter, where we come to deposit our waste, following the instructions that are indicated. For me, the investment is limited and it also requires little time: we just have to be careful about what we put in the composter. I put in everything that is vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells and also meal leftovers if there are any, coffee grounds, tea and tisane. The compost can then be redistributed by the municipality on request, and it’s free of charge. If you don’t compost yet, believe me: it doesn’t take much time or investment, especially if you live in a flat like me with a collective composter. It is also a good thing for the planet as it respects the natural cycle of organic matter, while drastically reducing our household waste. All you have to do is go and compost! “

Laurent, Sales Manager: composting is fun and good for the environment.

“My name is Laurent Daligault, and I am the Sales Manager at Carbiolice. I have been composting since 2010, following the incitement of the town hall of my commune, which offered me a composter. We started composting to recover our waste, whether organic or green. I have a wooden composter that is about 1m3. On a daily basis, it is necessary to have a minimum of discipline in terms of sorting and to take care of the compost regularly, by aerating it, mixing it and moistening it. In my composter, we put fruit and vegetable peelings, food scraps, wilted flowers, loose tea, coffee grounds, but also all the ashes from the fireplace or the barbecue. We then use the compost either as potting soil to grow the lawn, or as fertilizer for planting or for the vegetable garden at home. I would say that compost should be a pleasure: it’s simple, it’s easy, it’s useful and above all it’s good for the environment. ”

Clémentine, Industrial R&D Director: composting is definitely something that you need to try out!

“I am Clémentine Arnault, Industrial R&D Manager at Carbiolice. I’ve been composting for a few years now simply because we eat a lot of fresh fruit and vegetables at home, which generates bio-waste. So first of all, it allows us to reduce the volume of our bins and also to reuse, to give a second life to this bio-waste, while fertilising the plants in the garden. I have a very simple garden composter, which is a home-made wooden box that is perforated and placed directly on the garden soil. And in the kitchen, we’ve got into the habit of putting a container in which we put all the bio-waste we generate. On a daily basis, this requires very little investment. It’s simply new habits, especially in the kitchen, a container to collect the waste that is generated before emptying it into the compost in the garden. In our composter, we place all the fruit and vegetable peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, loose tea and also the grass cuttings from the garden. When the compost is ready, it is used to fertilise hedges, garden plants and also occasionally house plants. If I had to convince someone to take the plunge: well, composting is really easy! It’s accessible to everyone. It’s a natural process that doesn’t require much investment on our part, so it is definitely something that you need to try out!” 

Adeline, Laboratory and QHSSE Manager: even our organic waste gets a second chance!

“My name is Adeline Rambaud, I am the Laboratory and QHSSE Manager at Carbiolice.  I have been composting for a year. I invested in a composter for several reasons: I wanted to reduce the waste of my garbage bin because I know that it goes to the incinerator and it’s a real pity to burn organic waste when it disappears in a composter in a few months… Then, it was also the opportunity to reduce the collecting of my household waste bin, a little extra for my wallet! It also saves me trips to the waste disposal center: indeed, the grass from mowing can be added in a composter. And finally, it was the opportunity to make my own compost for my garden. I equipped myself a year ago: the SBA (Syndicat du bois de l’Aumône), which collects the waste in my commune, offers citizens the possibility of buying composters of different sizes and materials at affordable prices. This kit includes an aerator and a small household bin for organic waste (10L). In concrete terms, on a daily basis, I recover my OK compost HOME fruit and vegetable bags to put my peelings and any other organic waste, then I throw this bag into my compost bin, just like a normal bin. When the bin is full, I empty it into my composter. We are two people in my household and we prepare our meals for lunch and dinner with fresh products, so we have to empty our compost bin once a week. To have a nice compost, it is necessary to keep it as moist as possible. As soon as it starts to rain, you have to open the cover of the composter or you have to think about watering it. This is the only investment needed on a daily basis! In my composter, I mainly put vegetable and fruit peelings, egg shells and a little grass from mowing. Then I use my compost to put at the foot of my rosebushes and for my flowers. In my opinion, composting is really within everyone’s reach! It’s a gesture for the environment and for your wallet. Even our organic waste is allowed to have a second chance!”

Chloé, Formulation and Development Manager: a simple approach that makes it possible to recover bio-waste.

“My name is Chloé and I am Formulation and Development Manager at Carbiolice. I have been composting since 2019, firstly to reduce the quantity of my waste but also to be able to recover my bio-waste! I am equipped very simply, and thanks to the SBA, which offers preferential rates for the inhabitants of the communes managed by their services. To get started, all you need is a composter, a compost aerator, a little space in your yard, and a little time (you have to remember to mix, water and aerate your compost from time to time, that’s all!) In my composter, I mainly put food waste that is compatible with compost, coffee grounds but also some vegetable waste. I then use my compost in my vegetable garden, as fertilizer! If you were hesitating to start composting, it’s a really simple process, which requires little time and which allows you to make the most of your bio-waste 😊 “

Ludivine, Materials Engineer trainee: to compost, you juste have to take the plunge!

“My name is Ludivine Coudert, I am a materials engineer trainee in the formulation and development team at Carbiolice. I have been composting for about three or four years. I have a large composter of about 300 litres at home. Setting up the system (especially the purchase of the composter) is really not expensive. And as we have a large garden, getting free compost is useful to make it easier to grow our plants! Then, on a daily basis, the investment is very low, you just have to remember to mix it from time to time so it doesn’t even cost ten minutes a week of our time. In my composter, I put food scraps (egg shells, peelings, damaged vegetables and fruit), garden waste (grass, wilted flowers). I use the compost to help my plants grow. If you don’t compost yet, believe me, composting is not complicated, it doesn’t take much time and it’s not restrictive. It allows you to fill up your bin less and change bags less often.  In addition, there is no big investment to make and you make an extra contribution to the planet. You just have to take the plunge! “

PS: if you don’t compost yet, you can still apply for our job offers! 

Sources :

OpinionWay survey for Carbiolice, “The French and plastic”-March 2020

ADEME – 2020 Observatory