Winner of the "Appel à Manifestation d'Intérêt" (AMI) Réemploi et Territoires launched in 2024 by Ecomaison, the Emmaüs Nord-Alsace community is carrying out an ambitious project to encourage the reuse and sale of furnishing items. One year on, the project has made great strides. We explain!
Emmaüs Nord-Alsace has three sites in Bas-Rhin (67), in Haguenau, Saverne and Wissembourg. The project is threefold: to create a new carpentry workshop, to offer a new range of renovation, stripping and repair services for the reuse of wood and metal components, and to develop new inter-site logistics to optimize the flow of furniture and its distribution to the various stores.
Skills enhancement
Insulation, partitioning, electrical upgrades: at the beginning of 2025, the Haguenau site was equipped as planned. It has also been fitted out with all the equipment needed for furniture renovation - woodworking machine, air gumming machine, small tools, welding equipment, etc. - and two journeymen have been trained in their use.
The first pieces of all-wood furniture, selected from among the furniture collected by the community, have been refurbished - stripped, shelves fitted... - before being put back on sale in the stores.
This is just the first stage," explains Luc Gantet, Emmaüs Nord-Alsace development project manager. Our Companions will gradually build up their skills to carry out increasingly complex work, such as metalworking. We also plan to offer our customers a service to refurbish their antique furniture to bring it up to date. In our region, where there are many typical Alsatian houses, demand is high.
Facilitating logistics
Thanks to financial support from Ecomaison, the Community has also been able to acquire a new 20m3 vehicle, used to shuttle goods between the three sites. From the Haguenau depot, the only one with a sufficiently large storage area, it supplies the Saverne and Wissembourg stores, delivering furniture renovated in the new carpentry workshop.
"Reuse is Emmaus' raison d'être. To keep the solidarity economy going, we have to adapt to changes in the second-hand market: on the one hand, the furniture entrusted to us is often very damaged, and on the other, our customers are demanding higher quality from the products they buy. Renovation enables us to respond to this challenge.
Luc Gantet, Development Project Manager, Emmaüs Nord-Alsace
"The carpentry workshop project recently launched by Emmaus Haguenau reflects a circular approach to furniture reuse and refurbishment. It will give residents near Haguenau the opportunity to refurbish and customize the furniture they love, and enable the community's companions to enter the workforce."
Dorian Raynaud Regional Development Manager - Grand Est, Ecomaison
AMI Réemploi et Territoires: accelerating solidarity-based reuse
As part of the Fonds Réemploi program, the AMI Réemploi et Territoires d'Ecomaison aims to encourage the emergence of and provide financial support for business development projects led by SSE (social and solidarity economy) structures and built around the logic of local ecosystems, helping to increase the volumes of reused goods in the heart of French territories.
The first session supported 30 winning projects aimed at increasing the number of preserved collections, improving rehabilitation or developing new outlets.