Ecomaison, Ecominéro, Citeo and Leko are bringing together ceramic players to experiment with solutions for reuse and collection for recycling.
Ceramics is a material used in a wide range of sectors, representing sales of 5 billion euros in France. The main segments of the ceramics industry are tiles and sanitaryware, furniture, tableware and decoration, garden products and packaging.
Under the coordination of Ecomaison, the four eco-organizations - Citeo, Ecomaison, Ecominéro and Leko - active in these sectors and responsible for the reuse and recycling of these products have taken the initiative of joining forces by federating the trade federations concerned: the Confédération des Industries Céramiques en France (CICF), Les Entreprises Françaises de Charcuterie Traiteur (FICT), la Fédération des Magasins de Bricolage et de l'Aménagement de la Maison (FMB), les Jardineries et Animaleries de France, Pact Alim (French food SMEs).
The eco-organizations are pooling their know-how and skills to experiment with separate collection of ceramic materials and to seek innovative outlets for their reuse or recycling.
The eco-organizations and federations are initially calling on 3 local authorities to set up an experimental separate collection program at public drop-off centers, running from October 2024 to June 2025. The aim is to quantify and trace these deposits and determine the best recycling solutions for ceramic objects, while creating synergies with existing recycling channels (for inert materials).
From collection containers and sorting instructions for private individuals to logistical resources, the aim is to quantify volumes and identify recycling potential.
Alongside collection at public drop-off centers, communication on collection at points of sale and recycling centers will be carried out in the trial areas, to provide a comprehensive overview of the collection methods to be deployed to develop the reuse of this material, particularly ceramic pots from garden centers.
The major ambition of the work in progress is to transform ceramic waste into high value-added resources and diversify the uses of recycled ceramics, such as transformation into powders with a high mineral content useful in various sectors.