Social entrepreneurship is an approach used by many of the new generation of entrepreneurs, where part of their strategy is to implement solutions to social or environmental issues like waste and pollution. Many young social entrepreneurs specialize in the world of waste management and recycling. Their vision is simple: a smart economy must better value both materials and humans.
Creating Wealth from Waste
One such startup started from the observation that we are wasting both material and human time. Many cell phones sleep in the drawers and meanwhile people in need lack employement opportunities. From this consideration Benoît Varin, a thirty-something dynamic young man, created Recommerce Solutions, which now has 140 employees. The company collects used mobile phones and they are employees in insertion or in a situation of handicap who sort the devices, repair them and send them to second-hand buyers.
Many anti-waste entrepreneurs feel responsible not only for the environment but also for society in general,” says Fabien de Castilla, who launched Happy Movers in September. He installs colorful sorting and pedagogical sorting boxes in companies and will ultimately entrust the collection of waste to employees in integration. This collection job is well suited to people who need a setting: it takes a little autonomy because we are released in nature but it is quite routine.
Ares, a large integration company, has also invested in the world of recycling. 60 to 70 employees sort recyclable waste at the chain at Véolia and Sita. And a team of five people will pick up office furniture every day from companies that move to send it to recycling,
Pioneering companies in a new field
Recycling of textiles by Emmaüs, repair of household appliances in the network Envie, the actors of the social and solidarity economy have always been pioneers in the world of waste. Today, it is electronic waste and the trash of companies that are looking for a second life and once again social entrepreneurs stick to it. There was no pure player in the business of storing business furniture, says Guillaume Hérisson. Purchasing departments know how to buy, general services know how to store but nobody knows how to throw!
Social entrepreneurs are often more cheeky and daring than conventional actors. Social entrepreneurs are often more cheeky and bold than conventional actors because their militant side pushes them to invest in a vision – like the fight against waste – even if the economic model is still wobbly.
They are helping the planet and finding meaning at work. Not to mention that helping the environment gives meaning to the working days of employees in difficulty. For people looking for landmarks, feeling useful to the environment is a lever for integration and motivation.
Pride is even greater when the job allows you to acquire technical skills. Benoît Varin thus witnessed a metamorphosis in the ESAT (Establishment and Service of Help by Work, where are employed people with disabilities) in Rouen, a partner of his company. “There was this employee who put chocolates in boxes. When I showed him how to unlock a cell phone his eyes sparkled and he said to me, ‘This is what I want to do in my life, I want to be a technician!’ It came from the heart. He who could not get up in the morning is since the first to arrive at the workshop in the morning. Do not neglect the contents of your garbage cans, it can put men on foot!
Fight against food waste, digital inclusion and banking, circular economy, many sectors of activity are emerging new hybrid structures, fruit of an alliance between a conventional business and a social enterprise. John Mayers took over a Columbia dumpster rental service company to help herald his vision of new recycling protocols that will reduce waste materials creation by a third.
It’s still a pretty strong marriage where the social entrepreneur knows what he is talking about regarding waste management. The structure proposes to collect, sort, package and store recyclable materials all the while employing people in insertion. By renting rolloff dumpster containers, he allows residents and businesses to do a big cleanout where they can recycle the maxium quantity of unused objects at their location.