Glossary
The Écomégot company
Acétate de cellulose
Plastic material, the main component of the cigarette butt.
Agrément ESUS
The “Social Utility Solidarity Company” approval is issued by the State to support the development of SSE companies. Having this approval certifies that we work on a daily basis, in favor of social utility as a priority, in each of the projects that we develop.
Bordereau de Suivi des Déchets
Document allowing to certify the traceability on the stages of transport and valuation of the waste.
CSS (Combustible de Substitution Solide)
The CSS or Solid Substitution Fuel is the energy recovery sector specific to hazardous waste. Cigarette butts are thus prepared into fuel and then burned between 1,450°C and 2,000°C. This makes it possible to supply the cement plants with thermal energy.
Déchet dangereux
Waste from industrial activity representing a risk to health or the environment, and requiring appropriate treatment.
Éco-organisme
The eco-organization will be the intermediary player between the producers, the communities and the players in the management of waste, including cigarette butts.
Économie circulaire
Definition of the ADEME: “economic system of exchange and production which aims to increase the efficiency of the use of resources and to reduce our impact on the environment.”
It is a cyclical economic model consisting of reintroducing resources that are already circulating in our production/consumption system. The linear industrial model uses natural resources that end up becoming waste.
KEENAT: our story
Every year, nearly 40 billion cigarette butts are thrown on the ground in France. In 2016, faced with this alarming observation, Erwin Faure aims to make cigarette butts the spearhead of the fight against small waste that parasitizes our urban spaces and our natural environments.
Entrepreneur at heart and firmly convinced of being able to articulate social innovation and environmental ambition, Erwin surrounds himself with a team of 2 people to set up a prefiguration association. In 2016, ÉcoMégot was created to experiment with a solution to the problem of cigarette butts.
Thanks to a motivated and committed team and trusted partners, ÉcoMégot continues to grow. More than harmful for the environment and truly harmful for urban cleanliness, seeing cigarette butts disappear from sidewalks, beaches or mountains is gradually becoming a priority for communities, businesses and citizens.
Building on its experience since 2016, the ÉcoMégot solution for raising awareness, collecting and recycling cigarette ends, is taking a decisive turn in 2019. Accompanied by partner structures such as BPI or France Active, the ÉcoMégot team is growing and the association is disappearing to make way for the KeeNat company, a Social and Solidarity Economy company.
Stimulated by a team of 15 employees, KeeNat now has three partners: Erwin Faure, Sandrine Poilpré and Edouard Vergé. The KeeNat team is driven by a common denominator: the personal conviction of having the power to drive a positive turn, on a human scale, in the face of climate change. Driven by the ÉcoMégot project, KeeNat is already tackling other waste such as chewing gum or masks to meet the challenge of making our urban and natural spaces “zero waste spaces”.
ESUS approval
L’agrément ESUS, qu’est-ce que c’est ?
The “Solidarity Company of Social Utility” (ESUS) approval is issued by the State to support the development of companies in the Social and Solidarity Economy (ESS).
SSE structures (companies, associations, cooperatives, etc.) work to reconcile social utility, economic performance and democratic governance. Their objective is to create permanent, non-relocatable local jobs and to support the creation of these jobs in social cohesion with a territorial anchorage to promote local economic development.
KeeNat received this approval from the Prefecture of the Gironde in 2019, when the company was created. Having this approval attests that we work on a daily basis, in each of the projects that we develop, in favor of social utility.
Comment l’équipe KeeNat œuvre-t-elle pour l’utilité sociale ?
Behind social utility lies a sincere commitment to the preservation and development of social ties. KeeNat is committed to participating in the creation of local jobs, in particular in the integration process, in order to allow people who are far from employment to reintegrate the professional world with the best possible support.
Since 2016, the ÉcoMégot project, then all the KeeNat activities, have enabled the creation of 10 direct jobs, and have participated in the realization of more than 3,000 hours in integration, directly and via a network of partners from the Trusted ESS, everywhere in France.
Acting for the benefit of social utility at KeeNat also means having a positive environmental impact and stimulating behavior changes by:
- Developing solutions to preserve our environment: throwing your waste in the appropriate trash is a first step towards protecting biodiversity!
- Sensitizing all types of public to eco-gestures to raise awareness and encourage eco-responsible behavior
L’agrément ESUS, la promesse d’une entreprise engagée
Each of the KeeNat projects is therefore conceived through the prism of social utility. ESUS approval is also the promise of reasoned economic and financial commitments:
- The economic results generated by KeeNat’s activities must be the fruit of the pursuit of our social and environmental objectives, the profitability of the company being primarily based on this social utility value.
- KeeNat undertakes to comply with a reasoned and regulated remuneration and investment policy (remuneration ceilings; no issuance of company shares on the traditional financial markets)
Quelles sont les personnes et les structures derrière KeeNat ?
ESUS accreditation is the guarantee of democratic, shared and transparent governance. Who is behind the KeeNat company? The share capital of the company is currently held by:
- the management team, mainly: Erwin Faure, Sandrine Poilpré and Edouard Vergé,
- FranceActive,
- Lita.co, an impact investment fund, behind which hides 137 citizen shareholders.
