Plastic recycling: Polyrex sets up in Vendée and invests to grow its business

The family business Polyrex has recently been relocated to Atlantic France. The company has heavily invested in new premises and its new production tool in order to develop its business.

Polyrex processes 2500 tonnes of plastic each year. The company specialises in the recovery and recycling of PVC, which mainly comes from the industrial joinery sector: scraps, sawdust and shavings, tubes, end-of-life fencing, closures and joinery, obsolete batches, etc. 

Once the products have been collected, they are recycled in Polyrex workshops. Using a shredding and granulation process, new life is breathed into the plastic and then it is sold in the form of flakes in order to be used for new profiles in manufacturing processes.

€3.6 million investment for the relocation to Atlantic France 

Created in 1998 in the Deux-Sèvres department, Polyrex was taken over in 2022 by Thomas Audouit, the founders’ son. He decided to move the company to Atlantic France to give the business a new dimension. €3.6 million was invested in both the acquisition of the company’s new building and a new work tool.

I was very keen to move away from our small-scale operation and move into industrial mode. Our historic premises near Mauléon (Deux-Sèvres) weren’t allowing us to evolve. We had to think bigger! So we looked for a plot of land or a building that could meet our new needs. A property was available in Treize-Vents, in the Vendée, with a surface area of 3000 sqm and 3 hectares of land. It was an opportunity not to be missed! So we decided to relocate our company some ten kilometres further afield, crossing the border between the Nouvelle-Aquitaine and Atlantic France regions. There are two main advantages to choosing the Vendée: we’ll be able to keep our employees because it’s so close by, and the region has a rich source of industrial joinery. Our contacts in Atlantic France listened carefully to our needs and we felt that they paid particular attention to our projects.

Thomas Audouit, CEO of Polyrex

The objective: diversify and double production

The company, which has 15 employees, aims to position itself as a key player in the plastic recycling market. Five production lines have been installed in the new premises and Polyrex is now looking to diversify its offering and increase its production capacity to 5000 tonnes in the near future.

We have won the Circular Economy Fund – ORMAT 2024 call for projects, which was launched by Ademe and supported by the Atlantic France regional council. This scheme will enable us to move forward in terms of innovation. Today, our aim is to offer new solutions to the region and to go even further in terms of recycling and recovery.

Thomas Audouit, CEO of Polyrex