C2P is the recycling partner of several small plastic caps collection associations in France. Among them, the Handi-Cap-Prévention association located in the Paris region provides assistance to people born with disabilities. Meeting with Ségolène Rottembourg, its President.
Could you introduce us to your association in a few words?
The Handi-Cap-Prévention association collects small plastic caps, with the aim of financing the equipment necessary to facilitate the daily lives of people with disabilities from birth and help them integrate into society. The disabled person has rights and duties like any citizen, but for this he needs to be in society, to live there, to be considered there or simply sometimes to be able to overcome his disability and for some to be stimulated when faced with severe multiple disabilities. For example, my disability does not prevent me from collecting small plastic caps, thanks to a specially adapted van!
It is also an important ecological act that allows for less pollution and less consumption of natural resources. The small plastic caps we collect are sold to C2P for recycling. They are the main resource for financing our projects. In addition, there are of course the contributions of our members and the association can also receive donations from companies and individuals. So don’t hesitate to give us your small plastic caps, to join the association, to make a donation, or to become a volunteer. Every support counts.
How do you collect small plastic caps and what happens to them?
We rely on a network of partners such as companies, hotels or stores that provide a free site to collect the small plastic caps that people bring back. I thank them all in our Journal on our website. We also have many schools and sports clubs as partners. I am always very happy to see the extraordinary commitment of the new generation, it is a great opportunity. This is also why I regularly make interventions in schools to talk about disability and ecology. Every school year, I see about 200 classes.
The collected small plastic caps are packed in 12 kg bags, we group them together and store them at our Croissy site. As soon as the stock is sufficient, we put them in bulk in a truck to send them to our recycler, C2P. I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all the volunteers who come to help with the loading, because it is a huge job. Volunteers from other associations or schools come to help us. We always need more hands.
Finally, at C2P the caps are unloaded, crushed, washed and recycled. It is important to us that they are recycled responsibly and that they have a new life, for example in the form of wheel wells, bumpers, flower pots or technical parts in the building.
What projects does your association carry out?
We have already funded more than 50 useful projects and each one is a great moment of pride for us. They can amount to a few hundred euros but can go up to several thousand euros. I will give you some examples.
We offered the Foyer d’Accueil Médicalisé “La Maison en plus” in Vaucresson a portico with two swings, one with a safety harness, and two tricycles, one of which also equipped with a safety harness. This establishment provides daily support to 16 people with multiple disabilities and 16 people with pervasive developmental disorders such as autism. Awakening is a fundamental act that is often forgotten.
The association also contributed financially to the care and maintenance of Macaron, a young Golden Retriever trained to help disabled children. He answers 40 orders. Macaron spends all his days at the “Les Papillons Blancs” Medical and Educational Institute in Conflans-Sainte Honorine, which has 36 places for children with mental disabilities requiring individualised support, and 10 places for children and adolescents with multiple disabilities.
Last project finalized last September in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, for the first time we did a two-way donation: the association offered a toilet chair for a young disabled teenager because hers had become too small and her family offered this chair to a 4-year-old girl, who unfortunately also has RETT syndrome. It is also the role of the association to connect families, especially when it comes to the same disease.
How to find a collection point and help an association like Handicap-Prévention?
In the region, in all we have 505 collection points and of course we are always looking for new ones! To drop off your small plastic caps, do not hesitate to ask us by email. And if you want to set up a collection in your store, your school, your company or your sports club, do not hesitate to contact us too. Keep your small plastic caps for us! Every cap counts.
Just one important point of vigilance: sorting is essential. We can only recycle plastic caps that have not been in contact with hazardous or problematic substances. So no medicine, oil, metal, cork or cork stoppers, etc. No petanque balls or hubcaps, it has happened in the past and in this case, it is more work for the volunteers because you have to re-sort the whole bag. And remember to remove the cardboard inside some caps, it is not the same recycling process.
Finally, to help us, there are not only small plastic caps: you can join the association, make a donation or become a volunteer for loading or to help store and sort some bags like those in stores where there is often everything! For an association like ours, everyone can bring their contribution, however small it may be.
Ségolène Rottembourg is President of the Handi-Cap-Prévention association and a Knight of the Order of Merit.