Recyclage Vanier has acquired new equipment at its plant on rue Vincent-Massey, in the Saint-Malo industrial park. This $1.4M investment will allow the social integration company to process more recyclable materials. It will also be able to better train and welcome more participants in its training for handlers, driver assistants and maintenance workers, professions in demand.
Recyclage Vanier thus intends to “become a leader in the social and circular economy in the greater Quebec region”.
Recycling, a competitive market
“This new equipment will therefore allow us to better train participants in socio-professional training and to be more productive, then also to be competitive compared to other private companies”, underlined the general director Mathieu Commerçon, Wednesday morning, during a media visit.
Recyclage Vanier serves 3,500 customers in the Capitale-Nationale and Chaudière-Appalaches. This social integration company specializes in the destruction of confidential documents, as well as in the transport and processing of recyclable materials, such as plastic, cardboard or “glass-metal”. The NPO plans to double its capacity to process these recyclable materials, thanks to the modernization of its factory.
“We want to go from 2,500 to 5,000 tonnes per year of processed recyclable materials,” says Mr. Commerçon.
Growing
Recyclage Vanier’s turnover is $2.8 million, compared to $2 million three years ago.
Over the years, the company has diversified its business activities and revenue sources. It has developed other services, including the transportation and processing of recyclable materials from local resource centers through a partnership with the Renaissance organization. In addition, it now deals with “books at the end of their life”.
“The objective, in fact, is that the books are recycled because unfortunately the majority of books at the end of their life are currently incinerated or buried,” explains Mr. Commerçon.
Photo credit: Thomas Verret
Insertion social and professional
On the other hand, Recyclage Vanier has supported more than 1,400 people for 40 years through its six-month paid socio-professional training courses, with a 90% employment or study integration rate.
“The primary mission is to help people who are far from the job market to get closer to it,” recalls President Myriam Michaud.
« [Les participants]they are not volunteers (…) they are in qualifying training, which directs them to be able to exercise different professions, while being paid to do so,” specifies Ms. Michaud.
Photo credit: Thomas Verret
Learn a profession… and French
Arriving from Congo in 2023, David Séguro is participating in socio-professional training as a housekeeping attendant in the industrial field. At Recyclage Vanier, they not only learn a specialized trade, but they also benefit from psychosocial support, in addition to learning the French language, an essential part of the job market in Quebec.
“I have greatly improved my level of work (…) and my French,” says Mr. Séguro.
What’s more, the francization courses are adapted to the daily life of each person and to the reality of the industrial environment.
“We learn technical terms. It can be used directly in the factory. We really learn things. That’s why it works,” says the general director of Recyclage Vanier, Mathieu Commerçon.
“It’s not like a general French course, which is just as good (…) but it’s applied to what they do every day and in terms of basic communications for working in a factory. »
Despite a low unemployment rate in Quebec, the need for specialized training for people far from the job market is significant.
“Ultimately, we want to offer more employability services (…) It may seem surprising (…) but the reality is that the people who are far from employment are not decreasing,” highlights M . Let’s get started.
Photo credit: Thomas Verret
Made possible thanks to grants from RECYC-Québec and the City of Quebec, this project also coincides with the 40th anniversary of Recyclage Vanier.
In 1984, two unemployed Vanier residents, Pierre Métivier and André Carter, founded the company. They then created their own jobs. Four decades later, they are certainly proud to see that Recyclage Vanier continues to have a very positive environmental impact and to do good in the lives of many people.
