Pillar 1:
Ecological transition in the field of culture

Priority 1:
Reducing the use of resources and using sustainable public procurement

Bordeaux’s cultural recycling centre is France’s first municipal recycling centre dedicated to cultural institutions. Housed in a WWII submarine base, it collects and redistributes unused exhibition materials, ranging from furniture to stage design, across 12 cultural institutions in the city. This way, the centre aims to reduce waste and embed eco-design into cultural production. The centre also aims to educate cultural staff on minimising resource waste and embedding eco-design into the production of cultural events and exhibitions.

As budgets for culture tighten across Europe, this circular model, ‘combining municipal leadership with not-for-profit values’, offers a smart and scalable blueprint for sustainable cultural infrastructure.

Now available for city-owned cultural organisations, resources from the centre will be accessible to all cultural actors in Bordeaux by early 2026. The municipality also aims to impose a reuse ratio for all exhibitions proposed by the city.

In figures, the Bordeaux Municipal recycling centre represents:

• 1400 square meters dedicated to storing cultural equipment for reuse.

• 10 tons of equipment collected (400 m3).

• 2.5 tons of equipment donated.

• 11 tons of CO2 emissions avoided.