Calculating your carbon footprint: a tactical lever
🎬 Interview with Emmanuel Beaurepaire, Founder and shareholder of Recy'stem Pro
Can you introduce yourself and your activity?
I am Emmanuel Beaurepaire, one of the founders of Recy'stem Pro. Recy'stem Pro's objective and social mandate is to help companies fulfill their obligations in terms of collection and removal of end-of-life products, and declarations to the producers' register which is managed by the public authorities. The initial activity was very much focused on waste management, taking care of operators, and progressively the activity has evolved towards an agent status.
So we are still an intermediary, especially for those who put products on the market, but who have no legal representation in France. This is the historical part of the management of products at the end of their life cycle, i.e. all the sectors: furniture, electrical and electronic appliances, batteries and accumulators, and the other EPR (Extended Producer Responsibility) sectors that are coming up, in particular those for construction products and materials.
What does the carbon footprint contribute to a company's CSR strategy?
Today, the carbon footprint, the measurement of emissions and the measures to reduce their effects are planned, are to be integrated into the approvals provided for in the specifications of the eco-organizations. We work for individual producers, but they go through the eco-organizations. The public authorities have a formidable lever because any producer of end-of-life products concerned by these channels is now obliged to declare the quantities they put on the market, the quantities they collect and the quantities they recycle. The public authorities realized that there was a lever to say: if you are already doing all this, it would be good if you could tell us what the CO2 emissions of all your members are, so that the eco-organization can progressively come into this field and propose solutions.
On the one hand, at the level of each of their members to reduce carbon emissions, and on the other hand to present globalized data at the level of each eco-organization, of the quantities really produced. This will give real visibility on the waste sector, which generates negative externalities with regard to the climate, and will allow us to look at the quantities actually produced by these producers, linked to transport, recycling and the reuse of materials.
Why did you choose the GCI platform?
Recy'stem Pro chose the GCI platform because it is a simple platform for any expert to enter the data of our members, so we actually help them, from elements that we ask them, to fill their questionnaire, directly on the GCI platform.
We then transmit all the data to them, which allows them to include it in their reports, whatever they may be, in particular the environmental report or the CSR report of their company.
Why did you become a GCI expert?
I became a GCI expert because it is a logical progression in relation to my expertise. I had written a book on the implementation of the principle of extended producer responsibility for waste, but today responsibility goes much further. It goes in particular to carbon emissions, which is why I joined the scheme. I am also in the process of completing an Executive MBA in ecological and energy transition, so it was a logical step to join this platform and become an expert.
What was the time and cost of your company's carbon footprint?
As far as Recy'stem Pro is concerned, we carried out our GCI assessment. It took us one hour, because we are a service company, so we have few activities that generate CO2 emissions. So it was very quick to do and the cost of this service is about 500 euros, which is quite acceptable. It is something that we are now using with our member clients to set an example and encourage them to do the same.
What would you say to an entrepreneur to convince him to do his carbon assessment?
With what we have just experienced, the health crisis, the economic crisis, every company manager must make his carbon footprint. This information is essential for him, to see the reality of his emissions and especially to put in place measures to reduce them!
It is difficult today to do otherwise because, in any case, if he does not go today without constraint, he will be obliged to do it tomorrow with constraints and possibly with financial constraints, so I invite all the marketers, manufacturers, craftsmen to make their carbon footprint. It's very simple with this tool and it doesn't cost much!
