The world's best athletes will receive their gold medals at the Paris Olympic and Paralympic Games this summer, standing on trash. To be precise, on recycled food containers.
The silver-coloured Olympic podiums, which are currently being built across France, were made by a start-up in a small factory on the outskirts of Paris Sidewalks 100 percent recycled plastic has been used. This is a first in any Olympic Games.
“The huge amount of plastic is harming the environment, but if it can be reused, it can also prove its economic potential,” said Maurice Hamelot, 29, co-founder of Le Pavé, as he walked around his plant, a converted former steel foundry.
That's not all: Le Pavé also created 11,000 bleacher seats for the two adjacent playing fields built for the Games — all made from used shampoo bottles and millions of multicolored bottle caps.
A few years ago, the company had only three employees. But an unexpected call from Olympic organizers led to a major contract and the company expanded to 34 employees and opened two factories. In the process, it has become a poster child for the Paris Olympic Committee, which has pledged to make these Olympic Games the greenest in the history.
Le Pavé is part of a rapid dynamic Start-up culture It is growing in France, sown by the ambitious policies of President Emmanuel Macron's government to transform the economy with new industries focused on clean technology and the green transition.
“Previously, if you only developed software, it was considered a start-up,” said Jim Pesquet, 31, Le Pavé's other co-founder. “We are a new kind of industrial start-up, focused on environmental needs, and our goal is to become a European leader.”
Mr Hamelot was already working to transform plastic waste collected in Parisian neighbourhoods into high-quality components for the building sector. As an architecture student at the University of Versailles, he had his sights set on the construction industry, one of the biggest sources of carbon emissions.
“There are two things in common in construction, waste and garbage, everywhere around the world,” he said. “How can you repurpose materials used in construction and not harm the environment?”
Mr Hamlot bought an old pizza oven and began experimenting with melting plastic from electronic waste, including old coffee makers and telephone handsets that he chopped up in a blender. In 2018, he and Mr Pasquet, a friend since childhood, created Le Pavé and won a series of innovation competitions that led them to Honeycomban incubator in Paris focused on social entrepreneurship, digital technology, and crafts and culture, where they raised a modest amount of funding.
By 2019, he had patented a thermal compression molding technology for use in the building sector. Soon after, Mr. Hamelot got a call from Solidio, the French company overseeing infrastructure for the 2024 Games, including a new Olympic Village It was designed to promote zero waste in the northern suburbs of Seine-Saint-Denis.
Organisers, looking to cut planet-warming emissions in half compared to previous Games, asked if they would be able to produce 11,000 chairs for the new Olympic Aquatic Centre being built to host swimming and the new Adidas Arena, where the gymnastics and badminton competitions will be held.
“It was an incredible opportunity,” Mr Pasquet said.
received funds from BPITeaming up with France's state-owned investment bank, which focuses on start-ups, they settled in an abandoned steel factory in Aubervilliers, a low-income suburb of Paris close to several Olympic venues.
Mr. Hamlot and Mr. Pasquet teamed up with 50 local recycling companies to collect used plastic, experimented with and stress-tested dozens of prototypes, then reached a final deal with Solidio for the stadium chairs in 2022.
Armed with a philosophy of having a greater social impact by working locally, he hired staff from across Seine-Saint-Denis, including people who had been unemployed for long periods of time, as well as a refugee and a former prisoner eager for a fresh start.
Adding an educational dimension, the company asked Lemon Tree, an NGO, to involve 50 primary and secondary schools in the Île-de-France region. Around 1,700 school children collected one million yellow bottle caps, which were used to paint black and white stadium chairs.
While they were learning about recycling, the children asked Mr Hamlot tough questions about the environmental impact of plastic and ways to reduce carbon emissions. “The children were critical and seriously involved,” he said.
In total, Le Pavé used 100 metric tons of recycled bottles and bottle caps to make panels for 11,000 stadium seats, which were cut to shape by a French company specializing in arena seating. To make the panels used for the 68 silver-colored Olympic victory podiums, Le Pavé used 18 metric tons of recycled plastic and plastic foam food containers.
On a recent day, eight people were bustling around the factory in Aubervilliers, where a rainbow of recycled plastic beads and chips stood in large sacks. Some workers used forklifts to pour the beads into a special heater, while others guided the finished panels through a cutting machine.
The recycling process has a carbon footprint, including heating the oven and cutting the plastic panels. Still, Mr. Pasquet said, it emits much less carbon dioxide than using virgin plastic.
“We're making some beautiful things out of all that old waste that's cluttering up the planet,” he said.
They are opening a second, smaller factory in the Burgundy region of eastern France, and are raising funds to open two more in the west and south. As the government tries to reindustrialize France, Le Pavé aims to create jobs by opening smaller factories, Mr. Pasquet said, adding that the old model of mega factories can no longer meet today’s environmental and social challenges.
Le Pavé's Aubervilliers factory reinforces this statement: all major equipment was painted bright pink instead of industrial gray. “We want these to be the new colors of industry, to move away from the old image,” he said.
Recently, a decorative wall made by Le Pavé was installed at the Elysee Palace, the official residence of the president. The company is also making panels for major French furniture retailers and has in the pipeline to create parquet-style flooring for homes and buildings.
Knowing that their ideas have come to life for the Olympic Games has been a huge motivation. “We see that we have an opportunity to create something that will last for years,” Mr. Hamlot said. “It's about something that is bigger than all of us.”