The ‘Le Magnan’ restaurant on the École Polytechnique campus was built in 1975 and refurbished in 2012. It now seats 1,000 people and can serve up to 3,500 meals a day, including breakfast, lunch, dinner and special events.
The École Polytechnique decided to install M-iQ and WasteStar systems to optimise both the dishwashing process and the collection and recycling of organic waste from its dining hall. This fits its policy of choosing innovation as a means of sustainable development.
‘Le Magnan’ has certainly benefited from this decision to install a totally integrated system of sustainable dishwashing, the first of its kind in France. The MEIKO solution selected in the tendering process is a M-iQ conveyor machine with automatic cutlery sorting at the discharge end. This is connected to the WasteStar system to enable the processing of organic waste. Each of these innovative technologies offers a high degree of automation which significantly reduces and simplifies the work flow. The machines transport 6 tons of dishes and automatically sort 15,000 items of cutlery each lunchtime. That represents a huge benefit for the 9 people working in the wash-up area (originally 16 before the MEIKO technology was installed).
Jean-Luc Gillet, Catering Supervisor at the École Polytechnique, says, “The solutions developed by MEIKO enabled us to automate part of the dishwashing and stacking operations. This had increased the efficiency of our restaurant staff, improved their working conditions and enhanced the quality of service we offer to our customers. The equipment also enables us to respond to big rises in the number of meals the restaurant serves each day.”
A successful solution: École Polytechnique relies on the efficiency and sustainability of MEIKO technology. It uses two M-iQ flight type dishwashing machines and a DV 80.2 hood-type dishwasher, as well as conveyor systems and the WasteStar system for food waste treatment.
