Waste collection and urban sanitation
Waste Collection
Household waste, organic waste, non-hazardous or hazardous industrial waste, waste from healthcare activities, liquid or solid waste… Every day, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT collects all these types of waste from private individuals, companies, administrations and municipal authorities.
Dump trucks are used for collection. The sorted waste (plastic, glass, tin cans, paper and other rubbish) is sent to sorting facilities to be prepared for recycling; unsorted waste is sent to incineration facilities or storage facilities (formerly called dumps).
Some waste products may be hazardous or highly pollutant (batteries, aerosols, etc.), and are therefore sent to specialised centres to be treated and decontaminated. Other waste, too large to be binned, may be disposed of in recycling centres, where it is treated.
In response to these specific needs, SITA Environmental Solutions, the Australia-based subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, offers its customers a variety of solutions for the collection and treatment of liquid waste and fluorescent tubes, and provides manufacturers and businesses with onsite containers and compressors for managing large volumes of waste.
Green energy vehicles
At SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, nearly all heavy vehicles weighing over 10 tonnes currently use a form of “green” energy, whether clean diesel, natural gas, electricity or biofuel, up from 91% in 2004.
SITA France offers a concrete example. In the Oise and Somme areas, they decided to convert their fleet of trucks to colza diester. The operation is at no added cost to the customer. The 114 vehicles (including 80 trucks) that now run on a diesel mix containing 30 % colza oil make it possible to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25 %, and particle emissions into the atmosphere by 20 %, all without transforming the engines.
Reducing the environmental impact of waste collection
SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has also developed new services designed to encourage its customers to change their habits. For example, on 23 June last, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT launched the website www.empreinte.sita.fr in France. This is a service enabling local authorities to assess the environmental impact of their waste collections in order to identify avenues for more ecological solutions. Using a calculator, users can obtain an instant diagnostic and test various scenarios enabling service quality to be improved. The site is accessible to both professionals and private individuals.
Reducing the volume of waste to curb garbage collection rounds
SITA France has developed Cyclabelle, an innovative device allowing each household to reduce the volume of recyclable household packaging, except for glass: plastics, cardboard, packaging for liquid foods, metals, steel, etc. Based on the principle of vacuum compaction, Cyclabelle enables household waste packaging volumes to be cut by a factor of 4. The advantages are obvious, as much for the environment as for private individuals and local authorities:
- the volume of waste is drastically reduced: 160 litres of packaging is made to fit in a 40 litre bag,
- collection rounds for recyclable packaging can be made less frequent, thus reducing nuisances and costs,
- the improved cost-effectiveness.
SITA France invents intelligent collection
Using advanced IT techniques, SITA France is starting a new era in waste collection. Ingeni’OM is a service designed for use by local authorities. It enables data to be collected (weight of waste per street, number of containers, etc.) and analysed so that services can be adapted to inhabitants’ real needs.
In another effort to reduce collection nuisances, SITA France has launched the pneumatic collection of household waste, in collaboration with the Spanish company, ROS ROCA.
This equipment, which lies entirely underground, helps protect the environment by creating a cleaner, more functional and more ecological urban milieu.
