ARRU, a supportive recycle shop in Montaren
- Par nbesse
- Le 27/06/2025
- Dans Living in Uzès and around
FR - The Association pour la Recyclerie-Ressourcerie de l'Uzège (ARRU), founded in 2017, opened the doors of its 350 m2 premises in Montaren in 2019, while remaining on the lookout for a more spacious premises to rent.
Presentation
Run by around thirty active volunteers and three salaried employees, decisions debated in the various committees (Planning Committee, Institutional Committee, etc.) are voted by ten members.
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Today? ARRU means => 150 members & a monthly newsletter Paroles d'ARRU, distributed to around 300 people.
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Welcoming the public
ARRU is open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays from 9.30am to 1pm and on Sundays from 9.30am to 12pm.
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Did you know that... - Since the Montaren ARRU centre opened, more than 7,000 items have been received and sorted, including crockery, bicycles, books, lamps, computers and spoons... - ARRU is all about reducing waste and over-consumption, extending the life of objects through sorting, and introducing people to the idea of re-use and creation from waste...
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Items should preferably be dropped off at the Vallabrix waste collection centre (déchetterie), which has a room dedicated to the Recyclerie and where they will be sorted, cleaned, repaired where necessary, put back into use and given a new lease of life.
ARRU is a not-for-profit association (under the 1901 French law). All income from sales is therefore used to finance the association's activities and related costs: salaries, rent, charges, insurance and investments.
A significant proportion of the proceeds is also redistributed to social organisations with which we have links.
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‘The best waste is the waste we don't produce’. 'Everything that leaves ARRU's premises is weighed so that we can measure the work done: Not only is this tonnage not buried, so it costs the community nothing, but it is also recycled, which helps to reduce the volume of waste sent to landfill sites'.
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ARRU Repair Café
Every Saturday, from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., ARRU invites you to take part in a free repair-café workshop where you can learn how to repair objects yourself in the company of volunteer repairers. To take part in a free repair-café workshop, all you need to do is bring an item to be repaired (bike, small electrical appliance, etc.). Volunteers are on hand to give advice and lend tools.
ARRU expansion
ARRU is helping to develop the Frip So initiative, which stands for ‘fripes solidaires’ (committed thrift). The aim is to set up second-hand clothes shops in schools (recycling initiative) and inform pupils about the harmful effects of the textile industry (awareness-raising initiative). This initiative, supported by the Occitanie Region and the Gard Department, is part of the RecyclOcc Textile network.
The Frip So team opened a textile department in Saint-Quentin-la-Poterie centre, 1 place de la Liberté, where members of the public are welcome from Wednesday to Saturday from 10am to 1pm. A Frip So branch has also been set up in Montaren, next door to ARRU and open on Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9.30am to 12.30pm and from 10am to 5pm. Here you'll find two workshops dedicated to overcycling, recycled textiles sold by weight, and the Frip So storage area.
Thanks to François Bernacchi, a member of the ARRU board, and Céline Castellvi for their contribution to this article.
The right address: ARRU, Route de Gattigues, 30700 Montaren-et-Saint-Médiers (quartier de Jols). Tel: 07 84 67 55 97, contact@recyclerie-uzege.org, Frip So, 1 place de la liberté, 30700 Saint Quentin-la-Poterie and near L'ARRU. Look for L'ARRU on Instagram & Facebook.