Haut la consigne in Hauts de France, Consign’Up in Occitanie, Distro in Brittany, My bottle is called come back in Drôme-Ardèche, Bout’ à Bout’ in Pays-de-la-Loire, and, by the end of the year, its little brother in Centre-Val-de-Loire… Who said that the locker was a thing of the past in France?
Admittedly, there is no longer this generalized system that existed on glass bottles until the early 1990s, rendered obsolete by plastic packaging. However, in recent years, collectives of citizens, producers and traders have relaunched networks locally. Not enough to cover the whole of France yet… “But there are a dozen or so territorial projects to have emerged since 2015”, underlines Alice Abbat, coordinator of the Deposit Network, which federates these actors.
79% less greenhouse gas emissions?
Wines, beers, ciders, juices, soft drinks… These networks use glass bottles in a logic of reuse, a waste treatment method to be favored over recycling, insists the Zero Waste association. “For the consumer, almost nothing changes. His only mission is to bring the bottle back to where he bought it or to another collection point,” begins Benjamin Derouet, co-manager of Bout’ in Bout’ Center Val de Loire. These bottles are then collected, sorted and, when the stock is sufficient, sent to a washing center, where they will come out as new, ready to leave for a cycle. “These bottles, designed for deposit – a little stronger than single-use ones – can be put back into the circuit up to 50 times,” continues Benjamin Derouet.
This is the environmental added value of reuse. “They save up to 76% of energy, 33% of water and 79% of greenhouse gas emissions compared to recycling, list Alice Abbat, based on a study by the Deroche cabinet carried out in 2009, on behalf of the Alsatian brewery Meteor. The condition, all the same, is that these channels are part of a restricted perimeter to reduce as much as possible the number of kilometers to make the bottles travel. “Around 200 km around”, assesses Benjamin Derouet.
It leaves something to brew, from the bottle. In Pays de la Loire, Bout’ à bout’, which started from scratch in 2016, now has 72 committed beverage producers and nearly 200 collection points (organic stores, grocery stores, wine merchants, etc.). For 500,000 bottles reused last year. There is also a nice rise in power for Ma Bouteille s’appelle Reviens, created in November 2017 in Drôme-Ardèche. “We are at more than a hundred producers and around thirty collection points, says Clémence Richeux, the coordinator. We also have our washing unit, which saw 600,000 bottles go through last year. »
The war in Ukraine reshuffles the cards
And the current shortage of glass bottles tends to give new impetus to the deposit. “The difficulties began in the spring of 2020, with the Covid-19 pandemic, and they worsened with the war in Ukraine, recounts Jean-Marie Fabre, president of the Federation of Independent Winegrowers. Seven Ukrainian glass bottle factories have closed. Soaring raw material and energy costs are now pushing other glassmakers in Europe to slow down their production, or even put it on hold. Jean-Marie Fabre does not see a return to normal before the second half of 2023.
In this context, there is renewed interest from producers for these deposit networks, which have a new argument, beyond reducing their carbon footprint. “That of better controlling costs (energy, raw materials) and securing supplies,” says Alice Abbat. But we don’t go to the locker overnight. “For a producer, this requires reviewing some of its processes, changing its bottles and labels,” recalls Benjamin Derouet. This is all the uncertainty of the current period, concedes the coordinator of the Network sets: “Will these contacts lead to concrete and lasting transitions? “.
Recreating washing networks, harmonizing practices, etc.
Part of the answer depends on the ability of these networks to organize themselves to meet needs. A first challenge is to once again criss-cross France with washing units. It’s in progress. In Chabeuil, in the Drôme, My bottle is called come back in a few days will swap its current machine for another, with a larger capacity. “She will not only wash the bottles of our network, but also those of the Grenoblois d’Alpes consignment and the Lyonnais of Rebooteille”, specifies Clémence Richeux. Haut la consigne and Bout ‘à Bout’ (which until then used the washing unit of an industrial partner) will also each have their own in 2023. “Projects are also underway in Occitania or in the Landes, adds further Alice Abbot. We go to a washing unit by former administrative region. »
Another challenge is that of harmonizing processes from one region to another. “Whether it is the format of the bottles or the pictograms used to indicate that these bottles are on deposit, explains Benjamin Derouet. A bottle purchased from a winegrower who is a member of Bout’ in Bout’ Center Val de Loire by a Lille resident must then be taken back by Haut la consigne and vice versa. This is a strong demand from producers who sell throughout France. This is the whole purpose of the Deposit Network, which has just been launched and which brings together these different deposit networks in mainland France.
More complicated, however, will be to improve the return rate of returnable bottles by consumers. “They vary greatly from one collection point to another”, points out Benjamin Derouet, who does not make monetary deposits – the few extra cents that the consumer pays and recovers by bringing back the bottle – the miracle solution.
“If we all have the same bottle”
But even if these obstacles are all lifted one day, Jean-Marie Fabre finds it hard to imagine that the deposit will one day become the majority in France. Even less among the independent winegrowers he represents. “Some can take the plunge and that’s fine, he begins. But 30% of our production is intended for export, sold from Belgium to Taiwan with no possibility of return. Our customers, from individuals to hotels, bars and restaurants, also ask us for a wide variety of bottle formats. Switching to deposit, even for part of its production, greatly complicates this logistics. Jean-Marie Fabre also recalls the marketing importance of a bottle. “It’s, in part, what differentiates us from the competition, so if we all have the same bottles…”
But “the shortage is such at the moment that we see producers ready to package their drinks in any container,” replies Alice Abbat. It also refers to Germany or Alsace, where the deposit on the glass has never disappeared “and where competitors share a common pool of bottles and differentiate themselves by the label. And it works very well. »