It’s an old grandmother’s trick, which is resurfacing, at a time when we are trying not to throw anything away, and to recycle everything. Anne-Cécile Vain and Alliny Ferrera-Naves founded La Savonnerie Circular in Montpellier (Hérault), a small company which transforms frying oil into… cleaning products. “It was while reading a book that explains how to make your own soap that I discovered that all vegetable oils could be used to make household soap,” explains Anne-Cécile Vain. I did some research, and I realized that this method existed abroad. And in Corsica, too. »
But she’s not the only one with this funny idea in mind. While attending a course for student entrepreneurs, Anne-Cécile Vain, determined to launch her little company to popularize this miracle method, learned that another Montpellier resident, Alliny Ferrera-Naves, also wanted to set up an eco-friendly soap factory. This other ultra-motivated entrepreneur remembered, when she was little, that her grandmother, in Brazil, was already recycling her oil to clean her house. “We met, and it was immediately professional love at first sight!” smiles Anne-Cécile Vain. There were two of us, in the same city, who wanted to set up this project, it was pure chance! ” There Circular soap factory was born.
The “ancestral” technique of cold saponification
“It’s an ancestral technique, which has existed for 4,000 years, cold saponification,” continues the Hérault entrepreneur. Add soda or caustic potash to the frying oil, and mix manually or using a blender. It creates a soap paste. Many manufacturers practice hot saponification, with soda or potash, then rinsing. It goes faster, but it uses more energy and water. This is why we opted for cold saponification. »
The small business of Anne-Cécile Vain and Alliny Ferrera-Naves markets solid soaps for dishes or surfaces, laundry shavings and a liquid floor cleaner. All are as effective as the products found in supermarkets. But those from the Circular Savonnerie are ecological, and without risks for the environment, health or pets. “It’s a completely natural formula,” notes Anne-Cécile Vain. And that’s in the spirit of the times. “We did a market study, before launching the Circular Soap Factory, and we noticed that even large companies are going “green” and trying to offer eco-responsible solutions. Returning to more natural things is a real trend. »
Furthermore, don’t worry: no odor of fries resists cold saponification. And, in any case, the two young women, in their workshop, add lavender essential oil when making soaps.
Frying oil recovered from restaurateurs
Be careful, however, the Circular Savonnerie does produce products for cleaning, and not for personal hygiene. “There were food products in these oils, and some could cause allergic reactions,” specifies the business manager. To keep their small business running, the two young women knock on the doors of restaurateurs, many of whom do not know what to do with their frying oils. For the moment, four establishments, notably the MHB Café, the restaurant of the Montpellier handball club, or that of the Lunaret zoo, happily provide full cans to the two entrepreneurs, who collect their raw materials by cargo bike. But before transforming them into cleaning products, there is obviously an essential filtering step, to eliminate all the impurities that these oils may contain.
The Circular Savonnerie does not, however, collect frying oils from individuals. Because if it is quite easy to know what restaurateurs have cooked, and to discard oils that are not suitable (in particular those used to cook shellfish, which are too allergenic), in families, traceability will always be a little more uncertain. So, are you ready to clean up the fry oil?
The site of the Circular Savonnerie is here.