Veolia Environmental Services
Waste is a marvelous deposit of resources, renewable energy, alternative energy and secondary raw materials. Its management represents both an economic opportunity and a social and environmental obligation.
Despite efforts made to reduce waste generated, waste produced throughout the world is increasing since it is dependent on economic growth and changes to consumption habits.
The increasing scarcity of raw materials and increases in their costs are causing an increasing demand for secondary raw materials
that encourages their valorisation.
Finally, climate change and the need to limit impacts on natural environments result in an increasing need for control over polluting emissions and recovery of available energy in non-recycled waste.
Prioritizing waste treatment methods
Veolia Environmental services organizes management of waste assigned to it by defining an order of priority for treatment methods. These methods include: limitation of waste production at the source, reuse, recycling and recovery of materials, and finally recovery of energy and elimination. The objective is to reduce the percentage of waste landfilled or incinerated without any energy recovery.
Quantitative and qualitative prevention
Veolia Environmental services advises its industrial clients on how to reduce quantities of waste produced and the dangerousness posed by each type of waste. In 2007, recovered waste quantities decreased and tonnes of recycled waste increased significantly, in the context of Veolia Environmental Services' industrial activity.
The company organizes awareness raising aimed at the general public, to reduce waste and encourage sorting and recycling.
Recycling and recovery
Veolia Environmental Services considers all forms of waste recovery to be a priority (material, agricultural and energy). Increasing quantities of treated and recycled waste is a permanent objective, both in traditional forms (paper, cardboard, plastic, and metal) and new activities (such as waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE)). Recycling is expanding (+35% recycled materials in 2007), particularly in the paper / cardboard (+39%), and metal (+20%) activities.
Veolia Environmental Services is now recycling 14% of all waste that it receives (at the exit from the installation).
The increase in recycling ratios is based on continuous improvement of treatment processes, and the creation of new long-term industries. Thus, recovery of biomass derived from municipal and industrial waste is now used for manufacturing biomaterials and bioproducts used in the chemicals, automobile, packaging and construction sectors. Veolia Environmental Services is thus becoming a player at the heart of industrial ecology models.
Recovering the energy from waste
Recovery of energy from waste is the next step after prevention, recovery of materials and recycling. It provides a means of saving fossil fuel and limiting emissions of GHGs. Veolia Environmental Services generates heat and electricity from the combustion of waste that cannot be recovered otherwise, or from the recovery of landfill gas.
Biomass that contains materials originating from forestry activities or agriculture, and the organic fraction of industrial and municipal waste,may also be transformed into combustible materials to produce heat, electricity or fuels. Used food fats can also be recovered or transformed into biodiesel. Common waste (wood, paper, plastics) can be transformed into solid recovered fuel (SRF).
Protecting natural spaces
10 million tonnes of waste recycled by Veolia Environmental Services
Rehabilitating soils and sites
Veolia Environmental Services also applies its expertise to depollution and rehabilitation of sites. Decontamination of soils becomes necessary when industrial activities or accidental pollution have degraded their quality.
It can be implemented through technical processes adapted to each situation (biological treatment, extraction,ventilation,sprinkling,pumping, thermal desorption, etc.).
Soils depleted by over-production can also be enriched by organic materials using improvements produced from agronomic recovery of biomass derived from waste.
72 million tonnes of waste treated by Veolia Environmental Services
Treating hazardous waste
The company is developing innovative systems for the treatment of hazardous waste that require the use of state-of-the-art technologies. These systems provide a means for limiting the impact of significantly polluting waste on natural environments.
The quantity of hazardous waste treated by Veolia Environmental Services increased by 12.1% in 2007. The treatment of hazardous waste from households is also developing encouragingly.
Promoting integrated waste management
Waste flow treatment can be optimized when it is managed globally and is integrated over a region or a residential basin.
Veolia Environmental Services use this type of approach when possible depending on the institutional organization and the regulations, as is the case in the United Kingdom.
Degree of commitment of Veolia Environnement
