How this Yvelines company gives a second life to dead leaves fallen in the street

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A start-up of Ukrainian origin, Releaf Paper, set up shop in rue de la Haye aux Mureaux (Yvelines) in the summer of 2024. It recycles raw materials from dead leaves fallen from trees, then transforming them into paper.

The biologist Valentyn Frechka et Alexander Sobolenkothe president and CEO, are the two owners.

“The concept was developed in Ukraine, but the company was launched in France two and a half years ago,” explains Bertrand Chevalier, the factory’s operations director. She is 100% French! »

25,000 tonnes of sheets supplied per year to the company

The establishment in Mureaux of this company, which already employs more than ten employees to date, is proving to be a strategic choice.

“What is very important for us is to be close to the resource. We didn't want to travel 200 km to get leaves. We needed to have a partner who would guarantee us sufficient tonnage and we settled next to him (Inoe Bois in Vernouillet, Editor's note). We are also located close to our customers, or future customers, who are French and want products made in France. »

Leaves collected within a 30 or 40 km radius

Over a radius of 30 or 40 km around the factory, “with virtually zero transport carbon impact”, up to 25,000 tonnes of leaves per year will be provided to the company by Inoe Bois.

“The ambition is to produce 10,000 tonnes of finished products each year. On this site, we leave the laboratory to enter operations. We want to prove that we can make large quantities easily with effective products. »

An industrial process in several stages

In a immense hangarthe collected leaves are first sorted then washed, in order to eliminate foreign bodies, before being recut and finally dried using various machines.

“Once the leaves are dried, we will pre-chop them into small fibers,” indicates Bertrand Chevalier. We then arrive at a stage of transformation. We are going to go from powder to fine semolina to have several uses behind it. The semi-raw materials from the sheets will be used in different ways by paper makers. If it's to make cardboard, they'll want relatively long fibers. On the other hand, a stationer who wishes to make writing paper will need a very fine powder which will block the interstices of conventional paper fibers. »

Once the raw material is made (wood pellets), Releaf Paper subcontract the transformation part which will result in the production of boxes, envelopes, sheets of paper… “Even if we subcontract, we still manage this part, because we have the know-how”, insists Bertrand Chevalier.

First prestigious clients

In the space of two years, the young company has already built a solid reputation and works with prestigious clients such as L’Oréal, Uber Eats, Samsung, BNP Paribas, Schneider Electric…

Present at the inauguration of the factory on Thursday November 14, 2024, the City of Mureaux also showed interest in the system and is already thinking about a possible collaboration “to take advantage of this virtuous circle”.

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