In Plouaret, in the Development Center, are the Bocagénèse offices. Since 2013, this company has been buying wood from hedgerows, crushing it and reselling it to power boilers in the sector, the vast majority of which are collective. A completely normal society in appearance, but which hides a very particular status. It is in fact the only cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC) in the entire west of Côtes-d'Armor.
Although very little is known about how it works, it nonetheless remains “avant-garde” for Lucie Le Breton, director and technical coordinator.
“The SCIC status was created more than ten years ago. It allows companies – very anchored in a territory and which carry an object of collective interest – to bring together private actors and public authorities. » In the case of Bocagénèse, this “object of collective interest” is the economic development of hedgerows, provided that the owners manage them sustainably.
127 partners including three EPCI
“This wood is supplied mainly by farmers and, to a smaller extent, by communities. Conversely, almost all of our clients are public actors,” explains Lucie Le Breton. It is precisely because of this particularity that Bocagénèse chose the status of the Scic. Concretely, this status allows private and public actors to hold shares in the capital of the company. “As such, each partner can vote during the board of directors. » A principle which is close to that of the Cooperative and Participatory Society (Scop).
Bocagénèse today has 127 partners with capital of €64,800. 61% of partners are wood suppliers, 24% solidarity partners (individuals and associations), 10% public authorities. “We work with three communities of municipalities: Lannion-Trégor Community, Guingamp-Paimpol Agglomération, Leff-Armor Community. We have elected officials from these EPCIs on our board of directors,” adds Lucie Le Breton.
-We are not mistaken in our status to manage a sector like this. On the other hand, this implies that we must all get along on boards of directors.
26 collective boilers supplied
“The first three collective boilers that the sector supplied are located in Plouaret, Plounévez-Moëdec and Plestin-les-Grèves”. Since then, Scic has continued to grow to the point of supplying 26 boilers, located on the three EPCIs, and 22 of which are public. “We have five storage platforms, in Plounérin, Buhulien (Lannion), Louargat and two platforms rented to farmers in Bourbriac and Saint-Gilles-les-Bois. »
For Lucie Le Breton, who participated in the creation of Scic, “we made the right status to manage a sector like this. On the other hand, this implies that we must all get along on boards of directors. There are choices and compromises to be made so that the links get along and work together.”
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