Major player in the circular economy, the GPA Group, a family-owned SME from the Drôme region specializing in the recycling of vehicles, has been investing heavily for several years to make its industrial tool a reference in terms of sustainable development. Labeled “Vitrine Industrie du Futur” in 2022, GPA announces the start of a process aimed at transforming it into a mission-driven company.
With over sixty years of entrepreneurial tradition in the field of recycling and reuse, GPA is inherently an industrial company dedicated to circular economy. Beyond this historical purpose, the main focus of its commitments for the future as part of its transformation into a mission-driven company will include, in particular, the production of renewable energy, water management, and full employment in its territory.
This approach aims to engage the company in the long term to demonstrate that it is possible to build a sustainable and desirable future, beyond just economic performance.
By becoming the first mission-driven car recycler in France, GPA aims to pave the way for a virtuous framework that will not only guide the company’s development but also the evolution of an industrial sector in the process of structuring itself.
GPA will be supported in its approach by Prophil, a mission-driven consulting and research firm dedicated to the contribution of companies to the common good.
Johan Renaud, GPA co-director, said:
Johan Renaud
“My generation, the third since the creation of GPA, has had the opportunity to inherit an industrial tool serving a virtuous model based on recycling and reuse that we have modernized and perfected to create a new generation factory serving the circular economy. Our approach to transforming into a mission-driven company will not only help us perfect this model but also expand it to new areas such as battery recycling, renewable energy production, and full employment in our territory.”
Geneviève Ferone-Creuzet, co-founder of Prophil, said:
Geneviève Ferone-Creuzet
“GPA is a very interesting example, and perhaps even archetypal, of an SME strongly imbued with a family tradition and carrying a business model based on a dual ecological and economic imperative. Today, and what is particularly unique, GPA’s challenge is not so much to evolve a naturally virtuous economic model, but to pivot its purpose in response to the challenges of territorial industrial ecology. It is this transformation that we are eager to support.”
GPA in some figures:
GPA recycles and valorizes 99.7% of the mass of each end-of-life vehicle;
The modernized factory allowed for an increase in revenue of €27 million in just 3 years (from €31 million in 2019 to €58 million in 2022); projected revenue in 2027: €127 million.
Planned investments between today and 2027: €47 million.
Investments made between 2018 and today: €26 million.
More than 200 employees process 24,000 vehicles each year. (400 employees planned in 2027)
Each team dismantles up to 85 vehicles per day;
Number of parts shipped each year (2022): 135,000
In one year, the number of accidents at work on the site decreased by 77% and their severity rate by 81%;
The site has 4 hectares of photovoltaic pannels that can supply electricity to 5,000 households for the next thirty years.
ABOUT GPA
GPA is an SME located in Livron-sur-Drôme that has been family-owned and operated for 60 years through three successive generations. As an industrial recycler and distributor of second-hand auto parts, its mission is based on circular economy principles such as:
– Extending the useful life of vehicles by putting back into circulation those that are eligible for repair.
– Recycling parts, materials, and polluting products from accidented or end-of-life vehicles.
– Marketing reused parts and products resulting from dismantling.
– Providing its expertise to mobility industry professionals to facilitate eco-design in their products.
GPA has obtained ISO 9001, 14001 and Qualicert certifications. It also received the National Institute for Research and Safety (INRS) 2021 medal for its policy and actions in occupational hazard prevention.
For more information about GPA, visit: www.gpa26.com
