DTER is a centre for the valorisation of industrial waste through design. Our aim is to avoid incineration and landfill of waste whenever possible through intelligent ways. Depending on the nature of the partner companies' waste, we try to identify outlets for it, or entrust it to our designers for product design (domestic products). The outlets may also concern R&D for new materials, the identification of circular economy paths or the sustainable establishment of business cooperations.
Regional
France
Limoges Métropole, Région Nouvelle-Aquitaine, Châtaigneraie Limousine
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
2023-01-30
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): DTER Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Jean-Baptiste Last name of representative: Clavé Gender: Male Nationality: France Function: Co-président Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 13 rue Armand Barbès Town: Limoges Postal code: 87100 Country: France Direct Tel:+33 6 89 84 88 84 E-mail:contact@dter.fr Website:https://dter.fr
Since 2020, our actions are still oriented towards the valorisation of final materials. These industrial wastes do not depend on sufficient legal frameworks, and their valorisation depends on the goodwill of companies, which often have few means to improve their processes. R&D in terms of recyclability of materials and waste, new processes, cooperation between companies to reduce operating costs, or new tools, is costly. ADEME and Team2 in France provide support funds to meet these challenges, but companies, lacking the time to allocate to the project, and focused on output, clearly have an increasing need to deconcentrate this service. For example, our programme has helped develop a material with great potential in the ceramics sector, which is still under industrial secrecy. We would like to develop another material, this one derived from the co-products of the wood industry, which could enable the traditional chestnut industry in Limousin to be redeveloped, while guaranteeing an environmentally friendly operation for its workers. This last project is part of our 2023-2024 forecast.
Through our different actions, we reach all types of public, consumers, institutions, production companies, design and engineering designers. The programme follows a territorial marketing objective, committing to the promotion of the territory recognising its know-how and its difficulties. The D&T model is replicable in different geographical environments, adapting to endemic resources, and allowing singular investigations and productions. The programme for the next exercise integrates a space (storage, inventory, material library), a workshop (experimentation, prototyping, production) and an office (design, partner meetings). By creating territorial cells, the autonomy of the territories is favoured in support of the communities' programmes.
Territorial autonomy
Business synergies
Valorisation of final materials
Global design
Inclusive governance
On the scale of the territory, final materials represent considerable quantities of material that are incinerated or landfilled. D&T carried out a diagnostic of some thirty production companies, involving some fifty very varied waste materials. These scraps are used in the creation of objects and animations, and we quantify our output at around fifteen tonnes of materials used up to now. As D&T is run by the equivalent of one half-time employee over a year for all the actions, the D&T team considers that the score is rather good. The products designed have a lower carbon footprint, preferring 100% local production, with little or no extraction or creation of materials. The D&T professional network is gradually gaining in importance. An operational partnership is imminent with Team2 to guide companies towards multiple innovation perspectives. Team2 is the only nationally accredited circular economy cluster.
Our clients (foundations, collectors, private individuals) particularly value the design of tangible objects proposed by D&T, whose components they can appreciate the origin of, as well as the transparent conditions of their manufacture. The variety of waste materials leads to a protean production, borrowing the original curves of bent wood, the suppleness and softness of certain cellular foams selected for the occasion. The orientation of the creative line is defined in the general assembly. Since one category of members is the beneficiaries of the goods and services, and this category is represented on the board of directors, a certain amount of trust is placed in the project. Each piece of furniture represents a quantity of grey energy saved and this is now an inevitable selling point. The pervasive feeling of a territory full of resources still unexplored by the object designer is a guarantee of confidence in the project shared by the people met and the partners. The D&T service is experienced by companies and institutions as a wide-ranging alternative that will eventually create a dense, transparent and positive network. As there are many designers involved in the products, the feedback is variable depending on the object. Design and engineering schools are always looking for new fields of application for their skills, allowing students to become professional and to confront the themes and needs of the territory. The projects that D&T proposes to them can sometimes be innovative applications, or the constraints of projects with more moderate ambitions. D&T amplifies the natural link between production and designer training structures. In order to carry out these projects, tripartite agreements can be drawn up to protect the intellectual property of the designers and the industrial interests of the production partners.
DTER is structured as a SCIC, allowing for experimentation with new models. Through a statutory obligation, various stakeholders are integrated from the outset to define the structure's orientations collegially (see statutes).
D&T offers a variety of activities to reach multiple audiences. They are systematically oriented towards the circular economy, reuse or the understanding of the notions of resources and energy, and are intended to be educational and didactic, and depending on the level of the public, may allow meetings with nearby industries. Among them, manufacturing workshops (initiation and beginner), design and manufacturing (advanced), screen printing on reused textiles, initiations to sustainable development, citizenship (urbanism, governance, eco-delegate), workshops of co-design of playful surfaces with pupils and students, then a last offer more specialised in the design of playful spaces, always in co-design with pupils and students. One of the association's ambitions is to train one or more of its members to carry out PEMD (Products, Equipment, Materials, Waste) diagnostics.
Collaborative design is encouraged by the association. It can be a prerequisite to the creation of the client's request, or be the subject of support in the form of workshops. This approach requires the association to carry out preliminary and participatory diagnoses with users, followed by recommendations to the client or project owner. The participatory diagnoses include, as soon as possible, the creation of consultation tools (questionnaires and surveys, totems, geographical and sensitive maps, and any other means invented for the occasion).
As soon as our funds allow, production will be carried out via SSE structures (ESAT, EA), encouraged in the association's internal regulations.
DTER is a prefiguration association of a cooperative society of collective interest (SCIC). This is a very useful status in France; it allows for the experimentation of new socio-economic models and the development of innovative enterprises. Through a statutory obligation, the consumers of goods and services are integrated from the outset as stakeholders in the structure's orientations. A representative elected by them and from among them sits on the board of directors. This presence makes it possible to refine and adjust D&T's service offer according to the needs of the territory. Highlighting industrial waste so that it does not become an overly opaque problem, like domestic waste. Consumers (in this case, of domestic objects) tend to prefer local production, where they know the origin of the components and the conditions of manufacture. If a creative line is defined at the general assembly, the diversity of materials leads to the protean aspect of the productions, which is also considered interesting by the consumers. Each piece of furniture represents a quantity of grey energy saved. The systematic analysis of life cycles is currently being studied within the association.
Institutions are looking for operational support on the ground. D&T was originally conceived entirely by YoctoStudio (a global design agency), for public use, as a service provided by local authorities to enrich their approach to the circular economy. Following numerous refusals, the project began to exist on a self-financing basis under the authority of YoctoStudio. After some time, the project was able to receive financial support from the ADEME (for the defence of the ecological interests of the project), the Nouvelle-Aquitaine Region (for the management of the territory's waste) and the DRAC (for the valorisation of the designers' work). These members, all of whom are affiliated with ministries (except the Region), provided an opening to the institutional relays, the Metropolis (competence for industrial waste), consular organisations, Chambers of Trade, Commerce and Industry. These organisations have not supported the project so far, but their involvement in disseminating the offer within their network could soon enable more industries to be approached. On a national scale with European resonance, in 2022, D&T was able to intervene with an illustrated conference at the St Etienne Design Biennial, then at the interprofessional meetings of the Astre network in Pau. D&T also participated in an auction organised by France Design Week, and in 2023 will lead an ADAGP training course on the implementation of virtuous collaborative services, which will take place in April in Paris.
The creation of interdisciplinary synergies is the driving force behind the innovations enabled by D&T. Every new encounter requires a perfect knowledge of the manufacturing processes used, the complexities of production, the strengths and weaknesses of the processes, the modes of valorisation and production of waste. This step allows us to obtain an overall vision. Design and engineering are disciplines with methodologies that can be adapted to any new constrained framework. Putting these talents to work, while guaranteeing their fair remuneration, makes it possible to identify high-potential valorisation paths. There are many advantages for industrialists: reduction of waste treatment costs, possible participation in product sales, and valorisation of the company's image. By becoming part of strategic environmental roadmaps such as the Neo-Terra programme in New Aquitaine, companies can also unlock grants enabling them to invest in innovation. Working with designers also allows them to reconnect with the inventiveness of workers and naturally develop their CSR approach, to promote good practices and reintegrate the life cycle of materials used. Each discipline has been able to learn from the other. For example, it was thanks to the original idea and inventiveness of a designer that a ceramics manufacturer was able to develop a new formulation, which is unfortunately still a trade secret. Starting from a designer's idea (understanding of shapes, transformation processes, inventiveness of responses), confirming the hypotheses through engineering work (development of new materials and creation of production lines), applying this formulation on a scale thanks to the industrialist. This methodology is also currently being used to develop another material derived from chestnut co-products.
The project resulted in the development and prototyping of some twenty products, all eco-designed. The network is already strong and we expect to be able to attract new communities to expand the network. So far, we have avoided about fifteen tons of waste destined for incineration and landfill. The school, student, researcher and teacher partners want to define new partnership frameworks. Several relays such as ADAGP, the ASTRE network, the Saint-Etienne Design Biennial and France Design Week have asked us to share our experience with the D&T programme. The Chamber of Commerce and Industry (CCI) has indicated companies to meet with. We are starting to get to know the local industrial landscape and hope to be able to bring out 10 new products this year, 4 new workshops, develop our material from wood co-products, and obtain a new workshop to extend the work. The D&T project is a tool that we will always need to develop to intensify the Institutions Public Designers Industries fabric.
Most of the achievements and organisations in the field of material valorisation through design are isolated perspectives. These actions see the creation of materials, industry diagnostics and the creation of limited edition parts. These firms make their income mainly from the sale of these products. However, to our knowledge, no French system offers a hybrid governance system that allows everyone to sit around the table and tackle targeted problems head on. It is this networking of partners that constitutes a system that can be replicated in other geographical contexts. The objective of the programme is to create a system that benefits the entire manufacturing chain, where the costs of materials and valorisation can be recovered by the company supplying the waste. D&T member designers have access to several strategic standard documents: a catalogue of resources online and in editable version, a tripartite research agreement, confidentiality contracts, a copyright transfer contract, product sheets in editable version, a method for conducting a first meeting in a company, a method for analysing the types of deposits, a directory of contacts (companies, associations, institutions, production, marketing, distribution, press and animation partners). The remuneration of the designers of D&T products is systematically 10% of production costs. Contracts for the transfer of copyright are signed for an initial period of two years, renewable. These documents allow for the autonomy of the designers, the protection of their interests, but also to record the ethical and eco-responsible ambition of the project.
Members are encouraged to actively seek out new companies offering new sites. The association provides its members with a method for the first meeting with companies, as well as an analysis grid for deposits and materials. The territory abounds in various materials, more or less recycled, some of which end their life cycle in the state of landfill and incineration. It is recognised that the association works primarily on the creation of furniture, household objects and materials from these materials that cannot be recycled in their current state, or for which the treatment process shows many points for improvement. Potential new channels are presented to the Board of Directors in order to determine collectively the possibilities of intervention, circular economy channels, material valorisation through design, creation of new materials, R&D concerning its recyclability in conjunction with Team2.
The creation of new products is encouraged in compliance with the statutes and internal regulations. The objects designed follow the design line defined by the Board, favouring the principles of reparability, simplicity of manufacture and assembly. All new product designs result in a feasibility report, the layout and illustration of prototyping protocols, detailing the necessary tooling and control points, a study of profitability thresholds, an analysis of the product's LCA, as well as an agreement with the production managers.
The methodology and all the tools proposed can and should be replicated in other geographical areas (standard documents, funding scheme, events, sourcing, catalogue, networking, hybrid multi-thematic governance, storage-workshop-office configuration). Most of the time, all production involves destruction. When value is created, grey energy (extraction, manufacturing, transport) is spent. Until the middle of the 19th century, the valorisation of craftsmen's waste constituted other trades by generating useful products and a local economy. With the disappearance of the deposit and the circular gestures that used to be the law, new cells for reflection, prototyping and operation must be born locally. Despite the presence of professional recyclers who suffer and play the growth game too much, projects like D&T are synonymous with the resilience of the hyperlocal. Our bioregions have talent.
D&T enables us to participate at our own level in various sensitive areas of our present and future: amplification of energy sobriety (longer life cycles of materials, considerable savings in grey energy, recourse to the local, alternative to increasing globalisation), intensification of social links (building together, local solutions, citizen activities, linking actors of all types around the same issue, citizenship through ecological issues), creation of economic activity (decompartmentalisation of disciplines, development of new entrepreneurial possibilities, new synergies between designer industries, engineers, institutions and consumers, creation of jobs in the medium and long term).
