No more plastic containers in canteens. This is one of the measures included in the EGalim law, effective January 1, 2025. Arles anticipates. From the start of the school year on September 2, plant material and biodegradable cellulose will replace plastic. The first tests started this week in the central kitchen.
The trays made of plant material and biodegradable cellulose will be put into service in Arles canteens at the start of the school year in September. • S.Ma
Between 3,200 and 3,300 meals are prepared every day in the central kitchen and delivered to the 39 schools in the city of Arles. They are developed in collaboration with a dietitian-nutritionist, using more than 60% local products. The change in equipment has no or only marginal influence on production work. “The work remains the same, you just have to adapt. Polycarbonate trays lose rigidity, you have to hold them with both hands“, explains Jean-Christophe Bes, production manager. A flexibility that requires specific packaging for soups, in bricks similar to those for fruit juices but larger, made of corn vegetable film and cardboard.
The elected members of the municipal council, Frédéric Imbert, deputy for education, Gérard Quaix, deputy delegate to Raphèle and Aurore Guibaud, municipal councilor delegated to the Monplaisir district visited the central kitchen on Thursday, June 27. • S.Ma
Some 50,000 trays are used each year by the central kitchen of Arles. Although no investment was necessary – the heat sealers underwent some adjustments – to pass this milestone, the cost of the containers is re-evaluated by +30 to 40%. According to Frédéric Imbert, deputy mayor of Arles in charge of Education, this increase will not be reflected in the price of mealswhich increases by 2% “in line with the evolution of raw material and energy costs
“, from one return to the next. The municipal catering service prepares between 3,200 and 3,300 meals per day for the 39 schools in Arles. •
S.Ma
And then? The Arles collective catering service, which has around twenty employees – production, delivery and administration – is planning to create a collective vegetable garden for its own needs and why not become a supplier to earn a few pennies. Michel Staub, director of the municipal catering service with his production manager, Jean-Christophe Bes and the elected official in charge of Education, Frédéric Imbert. •
S.Ma*
Between €1.05 and €4.65 per child, depending on the family quotient.
- -
