Foucault Recycling

HISTORICAL

1900 to 1950

At that time, pretty much everything can be bought and resold ...

Pig hair is collected for resale to brush makers, the trade in rabbit skins is in full swing for the textile industry. Scrap & metals can be purchased at retail on small 'Roman' hand scales ...

Textile waste is collected and received on the Foucault site. Up to 17 people sort and pack the 'rags' with one of the first existing baling presses (wood & steel structure, metal links). The cloths are oriented according to their qualities: white cottons are used as wiping cloths while other qualities are used, for example, in upholstery of car seats.

1950s / 1970s

The Foucault sites are located at Machecoul station and in the city center. It is not uncommon at this time to load full wagons of 50 tons because the Foucault site is 'branched'; 15 to 20 people are then necessary to fill them most often… with the fork !!

At the same time, cardboard waste is baled from 40 to 80 kg using revisited hay balers! The trucks will already leave for French and Spanish paper mills.

1970 to 1995

Les Ets Foucault are among the first to set up in an industrial zone, still in Machecoul. The mechanization of work is accentuated with the first more 'advanced' machines:

- The wheel excavator with a generator (electromagnet) to load small metal parts replaces the manual excavator and the wheelbarrow

- The packet press (precursor in the region in 1975) can then compress half a car; it will nevertheless require the permanent intervention of two people

Years 1995/2010

The Foucault company obtained approval in 1999 for its installation classified as Z.I. La Seiglerie in Machecoul and continued its development by building its first storage building. It is 12 meters high and allows loading in full semi-trailers.

It is then certified for the depollution of End-of-life Vehicles (V.H.U.) and is audited three times to validate its organization.

Since 2010

Ets Foucault becomes “Foucault Recyclage” and is Screlec (eco-organization promoting the recycling of batteries) and Recylum (recycling of used bulbs, WEEE, etc.).

In 2012

Foucault Recyclage takes over the PROVOST company in GENESTON (44), itself in the recycling of metal waste for two generations.

Then in 2017

The team is growing as well as the premises for more efficiency and comfort. The land next to the Binet company (heavy truck electrician present for 25 years in the area) was bought in 2016; it will serve as storage for empty skips, as a garage for equipment ... Then in 2017 an additional 800 square meter canopy was installed to improve the sorting process while avoiding theft.

A continuous improvement program makes it possible to renovate (repairs, sanding and painting) the oldest boxes then a dedicated slab (2018) to clean it.