Decathlon says that the deal it struck in April of last year with Comerso, a digital and logistical anti-waste platform for companies, has resulted in the donation of some 36,000 items of unsold merchandise to various associations. Among these are the French Red Cross and the Recyclerie Sportive, a network of recyclers of sporting goods. The items come from about 270 Decathlon stores.
The partnership has brought Decathlon into early compliance with France’s AGEC (anti-waste for a circular economy) law, which went into effect on Jan. 1.
Citing the ADEME – a government agency operating under the French Ministries of Ecological Transition, Higher Education, and Research and Innovation – Decathlon says that about €4.3 billion in non-food products went unsold in France in 2019 and 7 percent of that mass was destroyed.
Comerso is a B Corp that collects waste and unsold inventory from about 1,400 companies in France – such as Fnac, Darty, Danone, Carrefour, E.Leclerc, Système U, Intermarché, L’Oréal and Besson Chaussures – and submits it either to recyclers or to associations for second-hand use.
