Innovative news from France 

Offering a complete solution to consumers to reuse their glass bottles, the start-up Le Fourgon is developing an ambitious network in French cities.

 We bring the milkman's tour up to date! "summarizes Louise Motte, the marketing manager of the Van. Created in April 2021 in the North, the start-up delivers to your home a case of returnable bottles of milk, sodas, fruit juices, beers, wines, etc. This case recovered on demand, during a new delivery or not, with the refund of the 5 € deposit for 12 bottles, which are cleaned and checked in their solidity by specialized service providers before being reused by beverage producers. Either a "simple and unconstrained" offer. Everyone wants to make a gesture for the planet, but we have lost the habit of the deposit," notes Louise Motte. The objective is to reduce the effort required by a change in habits (keep the bottles consumed at home, do not forget them bottles to bring them back to the store ...).

Present in the metropolises of Lille, Dunkirk, Lens, Amiens, Valenciennes, Angers, Rennes, Lyon and Strasbourg, the Le Fourgon network has projects for Bordeaux and Toulouse. An increase in its network, and its wine offer, currently composed of 80 references (60 available nationally and 20 locally). Seduced by a "complete concept, like the old-fashioned brewer system that delivers and recovers at the same time", the Angevin winemaker Joffrey Desgrousilliers offers the wines of the Moulin de l'Horizon estate (32 hectares in Saumur, for 70% of production in fine bubbles*). Already thinking about the eco-design of his bottles (lightweighting, simplified labels without gilding, effervescent range without aluminum cap ...), the winemaker only had to opt for a water-soluble glue for his labels (to facilitate cleaning).

Reuse of cartons

The biggest surprise for Joffrey Desgrousilliers remains the efficiency of the cleaning network: "already built and efficient" he says (calling on the Nantes association Bout' à Bout'). "This urban reuse does not solve everything. There will always be a blockage for export, but the deposit is a point to think about to improve our environmental footprint," he stresses, indicating that we must broaden the issue of ecodesign. Having seen his professional customers throw away all the boxes of the bottles he had just delivered, the winemaker set up a financial incentive for them to bring them back and reuse them. An ecological as well as an economic gesture in the face of soaring dry matter costs. If the inflationary situation fuels deposit initiatives, the winegrower does not think that the phenomenon is temporary: "large operators are trying it with significant investments. Like places to store empty pallets of bottles... This was inconceivable a few months ago. »

Growing, the Van's activity has made it possible to reuse 2 million bottles for 15,000 customers in 18 months of activity, notes Louise Motte. With more than 20,000 bottles of wine reused (the milestone of 30,000 should be reached at the end of November).

 By Alexander Abellan, Vitisphere

Photo Credit: Vitisphere