Press Kits

Identifying and treating micropollutants in wastewater treatment stations in the fight against water pollution

After several years of studies and data gathering, the Association of Cities and Regions for Recycling and Sustainable Resource Management (ACR+) is publishing, with the support of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT and its waste subsidiary SITA, an analysis of European waste prevention and recycling issues. The study includes, in particular, data on the various waste management models in the 27 European capitals. The book Municipal Waste in Europe – Towards a European Recycling Society, published by Victoires Editions, brings together Europe’s waste management policies and outlines the challenges which public authorities need to address.

The PCB - Axelera programme was initiated in December 2008 by the French Ministry for Ecology, Energy, Sustainable Development and Regional Planning (MEEDDAT), which entrusted the Axelera competitiveness cluster with the applied research component on pollution abatement techniques as part of its national action plan on PCBs.
Ambitious and groundbreaking, PCB-Axelera is the first environmental programme to mobilise large-scale resources and skills in order to decontaminate aquatic habitats polluted by PCBs.
The research programme, directed by SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, will last 40 months and bring together 30 partners to carry out 16 actions.
April 2009 marks the start of the 16 actions, which in time will provide effective solutions for decontaminating rivers containing PCBs.

Given the major environmental challenges, solutions must be found by consulting and working with the concerned populations to properly identify the needs and expectations of all stakeholders.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is convinced of the importance of such an approach and that is why it has made concerted planning a fundamental principle of its sustainable development policy. The company has designed the new approaches it proposes and the offers implemented in partnership with customers on the basis of this capacity to listen and establish dialogue.

At the French Exhibition for Mayors and Local Authorities, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT will be highlighting EDELWAY, a brand-new approach combining all the solutions capable of improving the environmental performance of local authorities in water and waste services.

The Global Business Forum (Le Carrefour Mondial des Métiers) is one component of the general policy of sharing knowledge and technological progress in the different business lines of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT. This is the annual meeting of operators and experts in the business units.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is one of the main actor of the International Water Association World Water Congress and Exhibition that is to take place in Vienna (Austria) from the 7th to the 12 th of September 2008. In 2007, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT invested € 65 million in Research, development and technology. Through its policy of innovation, SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT has developed technologies, know-how and a capacity of expertise worldwide to meet all its customer needs.

The operations of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT focus in equal measure on municipal and industrial clients: on the one hand there is water cycle management, from plant construction to the distribution of drinking water and waste water treatment, and on the other,waste cycle management, from collection to recycling and storage.

While the visual identity of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is being revitalized, its commitment to the environment and to the future generations in turn perpetuates its history. Such new brand-related discourse in fact underscores SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s long tradition in maintaining a close relationship with its clients and the partnership with its subsidiaries.

With a desert climate, the countries of the Middle East (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Oman) are confronted with a momentous challenge to their development that is unequalled elsewhere the world: the scarcity of their water resources. Indeed, although the Middle East has 5% of the world’s population, it has only from 1% of the water resources.

The pressure of demographic growth, economic development and urbanization, compounded by climatic warming, can only increase demand for water and weigh even more heavily on resources. Yet in general, the planet is not lacking in freshwater. However, resources are unequally distributed and access to water is primarily influenced by management of this resource, which involves political, environmental and technological choices.

North East New Territories (NENT) Landfill, one of the largest landfills in the world located in Hong Kong, today inaugurated an innovative Landfill Gas Utilisation Project. Swire SITA, a joint venture between French utility group SUEZ and Swire Pacific, operates and manages this 35 million m3 strategic landfill through Far East Landfill Technologies.

On Wednesday, April 18, 2007, SUEZ ENVIRONMENT and Perth City Hall inaugurated the largest seawater desalination plant in the Southern hemisphere located at Kwinana, 25 kilometres south of Perth in Southwest Australia.

SUEZ ENVIRONMENT and Cemagref launched the AMPERES programme, a major research project dedicated to studying the presence of micropollutants in wastewater. The companies signed a three-year framework partnership agreement.

On March 17, 2007, the town of Grasse, (in the Alpes Maritimes region) inaugurated its new sewage plant, implementing a treatment process that is unique in France because it results in an improved level of wastewater
abatement compared to other conventional solutions. To preserve a local environment classified as "sensitive", the municipal authorities in Grasse decided to acquir a wastewater treatment plant equipped with a "membrane biological reactor". This advanced technology, developed by Degrémont, a subsidiary of SUEZ ENVIRONMENT, combines biological treatment with filtration of the wastewater through organic membranes. The membranes constitute a physical barrier that stops the bacteria and other elements in suspension in the water, without the addition of any reagent. The technology implemented in Grasse is exemplary because it opens up a new path for wastewater re-use in France.