revalorised materials

Upcycling of bicycle tyres

The adventure began with a flat bicycle tyre that became a belt in a student cellar. This is still the material we collect the most.

But where do we collect so many punctured tyres? Thanks to several repair shops in the Lille metropolitan area (Coucou les Mains dans le Guidon, our historical supplier), to local waste disposal centres and to our partnership with Décathlon which allows us to collect from all the shops in the region. You will find here the map of collection points where you can drop off your tyres. We also work with tyre manufacturers such as Michelin and Hutchinson to manage their dormant stocks and production scraps.

By the way, can all bicycle tyres become belts? Unfortunately not. For example, we cannot upgrade mountain bike tyres with studs larger than 3 mm and cracked tyres because they would not stand the test of time. For more information, please see our specifications for collection.

We then organise all the logistics to bring them back to the workshop before being pampered. We sort them out again to keep only the tyres that can be recycled for La Vie est Belt. There is only one step left before the metamorphosis begins: washing, of course.

You are a bicycle workshop and you have a lot of used bicycle tyres in stock, join our collectors by filling in this quick questionnaire.

See Bicycle Belts

Upcycling of car tyres

When you put it like that, it sounds a bit scary, a car tyre in a belt. Our secret is to remove the outer, metallic part of the tyre to obtain strips of only 5 mm thickness. Our partner Gommovial has the secret with these machines. They are also in charge of collecting car tyres. This is the only material where we have a real supplier from whom we place material orders.

Once received at the workshop in Tourcoing, Christophe, Leïla, Kamel and Amada take care of cutting them out, putting the rivets and the buckle so that they end up at your size.

See Car Belts

Upcycling of fire hoses

Fire fighters on fire! Did you know that there is only one way to deal with old fire hoses? You have to bury them... You read that right. They are buried underground. They can't even be incinerated.

Finally, for 2 years now, we have been offering an alternative recycling option. At La Vie est Belt, we give them a second life in Belgium and Keychains. As for bicycle tyres, we have golden partners: the SDIS of the 59 and 60 as well as Delannoy Frères Ets who produce fire hoses and used to throw away their material scraps before knowing us. Once received, we wash these hoses. These belts are then manufactured in an ESAT workshop in Evreux which takes care of the cutting, the hot finishing to avoid fraying on the ends and the assembly of the belt.

See the Firefighters Belts

Upcycling of climbing ropes

We started to reuse this material when Cousins Trestec, supplier of Simmond brand ropes, contacted us to tell us about their rope scraps. Bags and bags of rope pieces too small to be sold for climbing.

In addition, climbing ropes are mainly used to secure climbers and mountaineers during their ascents in the mountains. Obviously, it is essential to change them regularly to guarantee the safety of these adventurers. Mathéo Jacquemoud, our favourite mountain guide who is also four times world champion in alpine skiing (no less...) changes them very regularly and has a garage full of old ropes. That's all it took for us to tackle this waste and turn it into mega-stylish belts!

See the Belts Ropes

Upcycling of household linen

In France, Le Relais collects nearly 600,000 tonnes of textiles each year. Among them, an astronomical quantity of household linen that we recycle into pants and panties 2.0.

Every month, we go to the sorting centre in Bruay la Bruissière in the Pas-de-Calais to collect by hand the sheets that will soon be on your butt. They are washed, ironed and matted to make unique and mega-stylish products. All of this is made in Roubaix in a professional integration workshop.