InvestigationIn this era of climate change, many companies are engaging in the virtuous circle of the circular economy. In contrast to decreasing theses, these alternative models tend towards more sober and more environmentally friendly consumption patterns, not without hindrance.
Jean-Dominique Senard assures him, the rescue of the emblematic factory in Flins (Yvelines), condemned many times for its excessively high costs, will be his “Great pride”. On this gray Tuesday at the end of November 2021, the president of Renault shines in his factory jacket branded in the colors of the house. One year to the day after the announcement of the transformation of the site into a ReFactory, many of the group’s managers made the trip to announce to journalists the metamorphosis of the oldest Renault plant still in operation.
In the middle of the aging sheds where millions of 4 CV, Dauphine, and other 4L have been assembled, a freshly repainted building stands, in which hundreds of employees are no longer busy producing, but repairing vehicles.
“With the Factory VO [véhicules d’occasion], the objective is to boost the second-hand market by reconditioning with new standards, and by reducing materials, times and repair costs for our dealers ”, explains Jean-Philippe Billai, the director of the plant. This is only the first step in the transformation. Soon, this hotspot in French industrial history will host activities for recycling batteries, repairing spare parts, and converting thermal vehicles into electric vehicles, to become “The first European circular economy site dedicated to mobility”. The circular economy? “It is the most intelligent subject from any point of view”, assures the president of Renault. Before taking the clutch, all smiles: “What was only a small subject of classic optimization has become a revolution. A renaulution! “
The diamond brand is not the only one to take advantage of the famous “three Rs” (reuse, recycling, reduction) of the circular economy. For some time now, this concept born in the 1970s, in the wake of the Meadows report on the limits of growth, is all the rage among manufacturers. Automotive, agrifood, textiles, household appliances, and even construction, almost all sectors claim, with more or less ambition. To name just a few of the most recent examples: IKEA has just announced a 100% circular offer by 2030, Danone, Carrefour, Pernod Ricard and L’Oréal are targeting 100% recyclable packaging by 2025 , and even Apple, often denounced as a specialist in planned obsolescence, announced that, by 2030, it would no longer need to extract virgin material to manufacture its iPhones …
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