Decontamination and conversion of polluted industrial sites

SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT treats contaminated soils polluted by former industrial activities. Through the development of tailored solutions (on-site or off-site), the facilities are dismantled and the land as well as the water table are decontaminated. The land can then be used for new urban or industrial activities.

SITA Spécialités has specialised subsidiaries in charge of site rehabilitation and pollution containment. Its areas of expertise include site characterisation, the use of on-site and off-site remediation tools, and the industrial appraisal of these processes.

The former foundry operated by Métaleurop (now Recylex) was thus decontaminated and converted into a multi-function eco-hub. Among the various activities, a new-generation facility enables the biological treatment of 60,000 metric tonnes of hazardous industrial waste per year. This waste comes from numerous polluted industrial sites and from former industrial estates in Northern France and neighbouring countries.

In France, SITA Remédiation also rehabilitated the Renault site of Boulogne Billancourt (Hauts-de-Seine), by removing the pollution caused by hydrocarbons and metals. These operations enabled the sale and conversion of the land.

SITA is currently taking part in one of the biggest remediation projects in Europe, on the former chemical site of Chesterfield in the UK. This public project, which is partly financed by the National Coalfields Programme (government organisation for the conversion of old mining sites), is the biggest of this type in the UK (98 hectares). All decontamination stages started in September 2009. The site’s final conversion is scheduled for 2014.