Maximising waste recycling and recovery rates

A vision of better waste management

Waste recycling and recovery are the cornerstone of SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT’s business. They are also the key to migrating to a sustainable economy in tune with the environment. With this in mind, the Group is increasingly looking to alternative waste treatment solutions that involve sorting, composting and methanisation.

A concrete demonstration of the circular economy principle is the Limay recycling plant in France, designed by SITA France, a SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT subsidiary in partnership with PAPREC. The plant began operations in 2010. It has an annual processing capacity of 40,000 metric tonnes of plastic bottles, and an output of 30,000 metric tonnes of recycled plastic and granules that can be reused to make new food-grade bottles. The company also built Valorest, the first plant capable of treating packaged biowaste. It can recycle up to 24,000 metric tonnes of packaged biowaste a year. 90% of this biowaste is converted into a substrate that is later turned into methane. 10% is recovered as energy.

Deploying a recycling eco-industry

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT contributes to the deployment of a true modern recycling industry, able to meet the growing need for high quality raw materials. In order to offer innovative technology in the environmental services sector, the Group has teamed up with industrial partners. SITA France, a SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT subsidiary, and Renault France have thus created a joint venture to speed up the treatment of end-of-life vehicles in France. Their objective is to recover 95% of every vehicle by 2015.

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT is also intensifying its efforts in hi-tech recovery Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE). In 2010, SITA France acquired a new treatment plant in Feyzin capable of recycling 25,000 metric tonnes of material a year. Dubbed the “Chemistry and Environment Centre” by the Axelera, competitiveness cluster, it uses an innovative process to extract and separate out the plastics in waste.