Only three weeks left to unearth books, vintage clothes, or second-hand decorative objects. After almost 15 years of activity, the Ressourcerie de l’île is preparing to lower the curtain of its large 1,000 m2 sales area in Rezé on February 25th. After closing its donation counter ten days ago, this player in reuse, which is nevertheless essential in the Nantes conurbation (220,000 visitors jostled there last year) can no longer get his head out of the water. “We have filed a request for receivership due to the worrying cash situation, announced Monique Boutrand, the president, on Friday. If it is not accepted, we go towards a liquidation. Today we are helpless and disgusted…”
Installed since 2010 in a large dilapidated warehouse slated for demolition (with a view to the construction of the future ZAC Pirmil-les-Isles), the resource center and its thirty employees have known for a long time that they will have to move. But the price and the scarcity of land, especially for an associative activity which requires a lot of space, made the search for new premises very laborious.
Seeing the current building continue to deteriorate, the structure finally decided a year ago to “take the risk” of transferring part of its activities (the recovery of objects, 650 tonnes last year) to other walls, still in Rezé, where the sale is however prohibited. “We knew they would be too expensive and too big, but we thought we could easily find sub-tenants, which was not the case, regrets Monique Boutrand. The situation has wiped out our cash flow. »
“Worried”, the metropolis says “don’t let go”
Mines closed, the members of the office today regret “the discrepancy between the moral support displayed and the few concrete acts” on the part of Nantes Métropole, which has nevertheless made responsible consumption a priority. If the association says today that it draws 85% of its budget from its revenue, it denounces the absence of a “land reserve policy” for actors in the social and solidarity economy. “The public authorities let us strangle us, thinks Paul Rose, the treasurer. Without this question of land, our model worked very well. A petition has been launched and has already collected some 7,500 signatures.
Contacted on this dossier, which has been the subject of much discussion for several weeks, Mahel Coppey, vice-president (EELV) for the circular economy in Nantes Métropole, affirms “to have always worked hand in hand” with the resource centre, and recalls that the community ” took charge of “part of the famous sublease. It also indicates this Friday evening that a “cell of 700 m2, not in the Atout-south zone but still in Rezé, was found and proposed” a few days ago. “They have to seize it because the Ressourcerie is a pioneering player whose social utility has been demonstrated, and which has inspired many others in the metropolis, believes the elected official. I am still worried because the situation is deteriorating quickly. We don’t give up. »
At the same time, Stations services, another major player in reuse in the metropolis, also announced the closure of its shops, including a department store, opened in 2018 in Nantes city center.