What improves waste management? - Veolia Environmental Services

esearchers and technicians working
on “waste management” programs.
“CREED was created in 1991 at the
time of the Lalonde bill, which restricted
landfills to residual waste effective
July 2002. Tougher regulations made it
seem more and more pressing to
enhance our industry’s technical
expertise. Until then changes had
depended on the talent of entrepreneurs
who pushed the technical envelopes
in their niche. Research was
conducted by adapting more or less
proven techniques in the field, an
approach that demanded a savvy mix
of intuition, continuous fine-tuning
and modifications. It was time for
Onyx, which had become a leader in
its market, to take a global approach
to waste and acquire a research capability
worthy of its ambitions.”
Practices and
operational issues
Researchers are not shut up in some
ivory tower. As their programs move
forward, they deal with the managers
of pilot incineration plants, composting
platforms, sorting centers, landfills
and other facilities, comparing and
rounding out their own experience.
Researchers conduct practical, operations-oriented,
directly applicable
studies. “At Onyx, R&D is not the only
engine for technological change,”
continues Dominique Helaine. “The
R&D department works in particular
with the Engineering Department,
which makes a major contribution,
both in identifying needs and compiling
research results for the benefit of
operators. There are several factors
that affect the smooth implementation
of an on-site project: the researcher’s
freedom to conduct his project
Tear-down of Renault’s former Boulogne-
Billancourt factories (France), to bring them
into compliance with standards.
as he sees fit; the operator’s need for
a facility that functions well every
day; and the acquisition of engineering
know-how in order to anticipate
ways to industrialize the innovation in
the future. It’s not enough to have
ideas and use them once; techniques
must be reproducible in Tel Aviv,
London and Kolkata (formerly Calcutta).
Today’s R&D must pinpoint
the future needs of our industries, to
better anticipate the technical developments
that will be required to manage
waste in accordance with regula-
Industrial waste:
a Late-Dawning
Awareness
Frédéric Ogé, a CNRS researcher,
coordinates one of the French inventories
of potentially polluted
industrial sites. He reviewed for
Galileo the methods our forerunners
employed to manage industrial
waste and its environmental consequences.
Were the industries of yesteryear
polluting?
“Factories, mine, tanneries and
taweries have polluted the environment
during every industrial era.
If for no other reason than the fact
that toxic chemicals and metals were
handled without any precautions
whatsoever.”
For example….
“We’ve forgotten about it, but the
French worked a lot of mines in
Brittany. Discharge of mining residues
into the environment grossly
polluted many Breton rivers from
the start of the 18th century to the
end of the 19th. There are many
similar examples in many regions.
At the start of the 20th century,
for instance, 10% of France’s industrial
production was concentrated
in Plaine-Saint-Denis, near Paris.
A thousand industrial facilities,
including the biggest gas plant in
Europe, were packed together in an
area of 2,500 acres.”
Is the environment still dealing with
the pollution caused by our ancestors?
“Slag heaps and slag pits have been
created near most mining and
tions, society’s expectations and economic
imperatives.”
The pollution that didn’t roar
Public health is a major focus for
researchers. “It’s not enough anymore
to simply meet existing needs. We
have to start thinking about the problems
that could crop up. It’s up to us
to understand how our facilities create
pollutants and to find ways to neutralize
the environmental and health
risks they represent. R&D is asked to
show a degree of clearsightedness
metallurgical sites. However, when it
rains, these mountains of refuse discharge
large amounts of toxic products
into the environment and will
continue to do so for some time.
To return to Plaine-Saint-Denis, the
construction companies that worked
on the Stadium of France had to
remediate large quantities of soil
before they could start building.”
It has been almost 15 years since you
and your staff completed pre-inventories
of potentially polluted sites in
France. How many polluted sites are
there in the country?
“Our teams and the staff of BRGM
estimate that there are about
350,000 to 400,000 potentially polluted
industrial sites. There is good
reason to fear that a third of them
are, in fact, polluted.”
How did manufacturers manage
their waste in the past?
“More out of ignorance than deliberate
negligence, they usually tossed
it into sumps or cesspits, dug for
that purpose, or into water ways.
The thought was that nature would
look after us and could handle it.”
When did people become aware of
the polluting effects of waste?
“It happened in the late sixties for
liquid waste and the water agencies
were created in 1964. Between 1970
and 1980, the industrial pollution of
streams and rivers declined by 2
percent a year. On the other hand,
manufacturers did not start managing
their solid waste properly until
much more recently. Maybe 15 years
ago, when it became profitable to
produce less waste and recycle
more of it.
Interview transcribed by V.O.
REPORT
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