The family mid-sized business based in La Fouillouse (Loire) has included recycling in its production processes for many years.

1. Desjoyaux eco-builds its swimming pools
“We throw nothing away,” summarises Jean-Louis Desjoyaux, Chairman and Managing
Director of the swimming pool company that bears his name. The family mid-sized
business based in La Fouillouse (Loire) has included recycling in its production
processes for many years.
The manufacturer has developed a complete process for manufacturing shuttering
modules for its swimming pools out of recycled polypropylene. The shuttering is used to
pour the concrete that will form the pool structure. Unlike the customary shuttering
process, the walls manufactured by Desjoyaux then remain in place. They solidify the
swimming pool and thus make it possible to use less concrete. The company started to
be interested in recycled material in the 1990s.
It imported recycled polypropylene from Italy and Germany. But the founder’s son wished
to incorporate this activity internally, mainly to ensure the quality of materials used. He
brought in his own grinding, dust removal and extrusion machinery, representing an
investment of some 4 million euros.
All shuttering structures have been built in his factory since 2016. Desjoyaux has also
entered into partnerships with recycling companies like Paprec and Derichebourg, which
supply it with polypropylene from the sorting of industrial and household waste. The mid-
sized business, which returned a 90 million euro turnover last year, produces nearly
2,500 tonnes of recycled polypropylene beads every year, to install between eight and
nine thousand swimming pools in France and worldwide. The shuttering remains buried
in the ground throughout the lifetime of the swimming pool. “We are one of the rare
manufacturers able to recycle the material and process it into final waste,” chuckles the
Chairman and Managing Director.
Arnaud Dumas for L’Usine nouvelle