L
Landfill
Sites that replace tips, enabling storage and treatment of waste and energy recovery from biogas.
Landfill gas
See biogas.
Large water cycle
Resource cycle governed by natural phenomena (rivers, lakes, groundwater tables, clouds, oceans, ice).
Leachate
When stored and under the combined effect of rainwater and natural decomposition, waste produces a liquid fraction called leachate.With a high organic and trace element content, leachate cannot be discharged directly into the natural environment and must be carefully collected and treated.
Leachates
When stored and under the combined action of rain water and natural fermentation, waste produces a liquid fraction called "leachates". These materials are rich in organic materials and trace elements, cannot be released into the natural environment directly and must be treated.
Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)
Liquefied Petroleum Gas
Low-cost connection
The definition varies from country to country. In the widest sense of the expression, it describes the connection of low-income homes, carried out at lower cost and offered for a lower price and/or with easy payment terms. In some countries, such as Gabon, this type of connection is proposed to people who commit to keeping their water and electricity consumption below specified thresholds and therefore benefit from a preferential price.
M
Membrane
A thin layer of organic or mineral material acting as a physical barrier to separate elements at a microscopic level. Separation can be facilitated by a driving force (a difference in pressure, concentration or electrical potential).
Methanisation
Biological process for degradation of organic material by microbial flora, in the absence of oxygen.
MWIP
Municipal Waste Incineration Plant.
N
National Environment and Health Action Plan (NEHAP)
The French National Environment and Health Action Plan aims to address concerns about short- and medium-term health risks associated with exposure to certain pollution in the environment.
Natura 2000
A network of natural and seminatural ecological sites of great heritage value because of the natural habitats or exceptional flora and fauna they contain. There are two types of areas in the Natura 2000 network:
- Special Protection Areas (SPA), classified under the Birds Directive of 1979
- Special Conservation Areas (SCA), classified under the Habitat Directive of 1992
Network Efficiency Ratio
The ratio between, on the one hand, the sum of volumes of invoiced water for industrial and domestic needs and the volumes of non-invoiced water for service needs and, on the other hand, volumes fed into the distribution network.
Network efficiency ratio
Ratio between the sum of invoiced and non-invoiced water volumes to the total volume input into the distribution network.
O
OECD
Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
ONEA
National Office for water and sanitation in France.
Operational Entity
Organizational and geographic entity forming a level of management and consolidation with the division.
Orée
French association composed of enterprises and communities to develop a common research on how the environment is taken into account by these bodies.
ORSE
Observatoire sur la Responsabilité Sociale des Entreprises
A Paris-based Observatory on Corporate Social Responsibility.
Outsourcing
The subcontracting to a single external operator of a group of peripheral activities previously carried out internally (water, energy, transport, environmental protection management etc.).
Outsourcing
Delegating to a single private operator a set of peripheral activities formerly carried out internally (management of water, energy, transportation, environmental protection, etc.).
P
Primary energy
Incoming energy before transformation.
Priority facilities
Facilities with the most sensitive environmental impacts for the Group.
Private Finance Initiative (PFI)
Recent form of contract in the United Kingdom, more flexible than public-private partnerships (PPP). It was developed by central Government, in consultation with the sector's stakeholders. PFIs allow broad contractual flexibility between the public and private partners, with the private partner assuming the majority of risks.
Public service concession
Method of operating public services or general interest services originating from public authorities and for the benefit of residents, who pay the price directly to the concession. The concession is responsible for operation of the service and, if applicable, for making some investments.
Public service outsourcing
Operating method for public services or services of general interest under the control of public authorities that benefit residents, who usually pay the price directly to the service operator.The operator assumes responsibility for service operation as well as investments where necessary.The public services operated by Veolia Environnement mainly involve household and non-hazardous waste collection, recycling and disposal;water and wastewater services; energy production and distribution (heating and hot water); and public transportation.
Public-private partnership
The abbreviation PPP also refers to a very wide variety of methods of production and management of infrastructures, facilities or public services. In terms of public service, the objective is a financing method by which a public authority calls upon private service providers to finance and manage facilities providing or contributing to public service. In return, the private partner receives payment from the public partner and / or users of the service that he manages. This financing method is present in many countries in various forms.
Purchasing power parity (PPP)
Method used to produce a comparison of the purchasing power of national currencies in different countries. It consists of measuring the amount of goods and services that can be purchased using a currency (standard shopping basket of goods in the different compared countries).
R
REACH
The new European Union directive on chemicals, adopted in December 2006. The acronym stands for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals. Regulation (CE) No. 1907/2006 and Directive 2006/121/CE amending Directive 67/548/CEE were published in the Official Journal on December 30, 2006. REACH will take effect on June 1, 2007.
Recovery (waste)
The three main types of waste recovery are:
- Materials recovery or recycling, which enables waste materials to be reused.
- Energy recovery, which allows the production of electricity or the supply of a heating network.
- Organic recovery, which consists in transforming the fermentable part of organic waste into compost.
Relevant activities
- Production and distribution of drinking water, collection and depollution of urban wastewater.
- Waste treatment activities (sort, composting, incineration, storage, treatment of hazardous waste).
- Energy services (heating and cooling networks, thermal and multi-technique services, industrial utilities and facilities management).
- Transport of passengers and goods.
Renewable energy
Energy produced from natural elements (sun, wind, water, earth): solar and wind energy, hydroelectricity, geothermal, biomass, tidal, biogas from landfills, etc.
Reuse
Re-use of treated wastewater (that has been treated in a treatment plant and that can be released into the natural environment).
Reverse osmosis
Process for separation of water and dissolved salts by means of semi-permeable membranes under the action of pressure (54 to 80 bars for the treatment of sea water).
S
Sanitation
Collection and depollution of waste and drain water.
Sanitation equipment
Systems for treatment of wastewater or waste, or well ventilated toilets, or toilets connected to a septic tank, according to the definition of the World Health Organization and the UNICEF.
Sapiens (Surveys and Perspectives Integrating Environment and Society)
Multidisciplinary scientific journal issued by the Veolia Environnement Institute publishing articles written by the best specialists describing significant progress in the field of environmental prospecting.
Secondary raw materials
Raw materials derived from recycling of waste and that can be used in manufacturing of a new product.
Service concession (affermage) contracts
Contract for operation of a public service (for example drinking water services) drawn up between a delegating public authority and an operator. The local authorities makes investments, the private company is responsible for operation, renovation of facilities and invoicing. The operator's remuneration is derived from users of the service.
Shared ride
Refers to three types of transport including car pool, car sharing, and transport on demand.
Small water cycle
Cycle of agricultural, industrial and domestic uses.
Socially responsible investment (SRI)
Socially responsible investment, which is made on the basis of social, environmental and ethical criteria, along with financial performance.
Stakeholders
Internal and external parties concerned by operation of the enterprise: employees, clients, suppliers, shareholders, associations, civil partnership, public authorities, etc.
Subsidized connection
The definition varies from country to country. In the widest sense, it describes the connection of low-income homes, carried out at lower cost and offered for a lower price and/or with easy payment terms. In some countries, such as Gabon, this type of connection is proposed to people who commit to keeping their water and electricity consumption below specified thresholds and therefore benefit from a preferential price.
Subsidized connection
In the most general case, this refers to connection of low income households offered at a low price and / or with payment facilities.
T
Transportation on demand (TOD)
Particular transport mode including traditional or collective taxis, school buses, car sharing and self-service bicycles. TOD services are different from other public transport services in that vehicles do not follow a fixed route and do not have a precise timetable, except sometimes to meet particular needs.
Trigeneration
The trigeneration process produces cooling, heating and power from a single energy source by recovering the engine's exhaust gas.
U
Unavoidable energy
Energy unavoidably produced from a natural or industrial source or calorific energy that is lost when not recovered: biogas, flare pit gas, etc.
Urban heating networks
Central boilers that supply buildings connected to them through a network of pipes.
V
Vehicle Natural Gas (VNG)
Vehicle Natural Gas
W
Waste recovery
There are three types of recovery:
- material recovery or recycling that consists of using the materials contained in waste for a second life;
-
energy recovery, that consists of generating electricity or supplying a heat network;
- agronomic recovery that consists of transforming the fermentable part of organic waste into compost.
Waste Storage Center (WSC)
A new technical generation of sites replacing conventional landfills. WSCs enable waste to be stored and treated in optimum conditions for environmental safety as well as providing optimized waste-to-energy solutions in the form of possible production of biogas.
Waste-to-energy conversion
The three major types of waste-to-energy conversion are:
- Material recovery or recycling which aims to give a new lease of life to materials contained in waste.
- Waste-to-energy conversion for producing electricity or supplying a heating network.
- Agronomical recycling which consists in transforming the fermentescible part of organic waste into compost.
Waste-to-energy plants
Waste incineration plants that recover energy to produce electricity or steam for supplying a heating network or an industrial site.
Wastewater service
Wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment. Known as "sanitation" in its most basic forms.
Watershed (or catchment area)
Well field
An area containing water withdrawal wells that take groundwater from an aquifer.
Whistleblowing system
System by which employees who observe a failure to observe functional rules of the ethics, conviction and responsibility program, can send alerts to the ethics committee, if recourse to management is insufficient.
White certificates
French system used to demonstrate and evaluate energy savings made. These certificates must enable savings of 54 TWh by 2008.