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Rainy morning in Giromagny, near Belfort. Workers are busy near a primary school whose parking lot they are redoing. But here, no bitumen, the town hall opted for slabs from the local company Purple Alternative Surface: large black hexagons weighing five kilos each, placed on a terraced floor. The easy assembly gives the impression of a giant puzzle looking like a honeycomb mesh.
Special features of this slab, called Purple Solo: permeable to rainwater, it is entirely made of plastics hard, normally destined for burial or incineration. With it, exit the macadam, synonymous with the artificialization of the soil and which does not allow the rain to pass.
40 liters of water per m²
“ There is a space of 5 millimeters between each slab which will let water seep into the ground “, explains Pierre Quinonero, co-founder and commercial director of Purple Alternative Surface. The start-up, created in 2019, is based in Cravanche, in the suburbs of Belfort, where it has six employees. In addition, the plates are hollow and can retain 40 liters of water per m², then gradually returned to the ground, continues Mr. Quinonero.
To retrieve the plasticsan agreement has been made with waste collection centers in neighboring Haute-Saône “where we recover +rigid plastics+” (toys, basins, etc.), then transformed “into matter first to make our slabs”, explains this former pilot of motorbikeephemeral leader of the Paris-Dakar rally in 2001.
Of the ” rigid “which are part of the” three million tons of plastic which, each year, are not recycled because it would be too complicated or too expensive “, he notes in passing.
Once collected, the plastics are transformed by Plaxer, partner of Purple Alternative Surface, specialized in the manufacture of the products plastic and installed in Rumersheim-le-Haut (Haut-Rhin), about sixty kilometers northeast of Belfort. ” Our network covers a radius of 100 km, between Haute-Saône and Haut-Rhin, from collection to the production of the slabs “Slips Pierre Quinonero.
On a single line, the plastics are melted and injected into the mold which will give them their final shape. ” Today, we pollute a lot with plastic waste”, recognizes Bruno Caudron, the technical director of Plaxer. This company of 35 employees “is a major player in the world of plastics, we produce a lot of parts for theautomotive. We wanted to make our contribution to recycling waste, we want to ennoble our core business, that’s why we decided to support Purple “, he explains.
Plastics, whose basic ingredient is oil, are indeed regularly pointed out for their polluting action, like the micro-plastics which invade the planet, from the oceans to the summits of mountains. And while recycling clearly has its virtues, it also has its limits, with the industry continuing to massively produce new plastics.
A lifespan is estimated at 30 years
Pierre Quinonero still wants to believe in the ecological virtues of the Purple Solo: “ We really want to influence the ecological transition. Every time we make three parking spaces (with these slabs), we manage to recycle a ton of plastic “, he assures.
Besides the Purple Solo, whose duration life is estimated at 30 years, is almost recyclable “ to infinity “. ” We have a deposit system: when we sell a car park, we collect the damaged tiles to use them again to make new ones “.
The beginnings of the start-up from Belfort, which has been awarded the Afnor “Circular Economy” standard, are promising: “ We sold the first slabs in April. There, we have more than a hundred customers “, for staggered orders until 2024, welcomes its co-founder, who aims for 6,500 m² of car parks in 2022 and 50,000 m² in 2023.
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