Closed area where householders can come and deposit free of charge all waste that is not collected in the conventional manner: bulky waste (household appliances, computer equipment, furniture, etc.), toxic, inflammable or polluting products (motor oils, car batteries, paints, solvents, etc.), green waste (lawn clippings, pruning waste, leaves, etc.), gravel, scrap metal, etc. Depending on the type, the waste is then transferred to the appropriate recovery treatment.
These include sharp objects and cutting implements that should never be disposed of in standard trashcans. Their removal must comply with the applicable regulations (for France: Decree 97-1 048 of November 6, 1997 and the Decisions of September 7, 1999).
Use of all or part of waste to replace a component or material.
Use of digestate or other organic waste treated by biological processes to improve soil in the form of compost.
There are three types of recovery:
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.
Transit site for waste. Waste collected from various municipalities and industries is temporarily stored in a transfer station ready for sorting and dispatch to the appropriate treatment process. The recoverable portion of the waste is sent to recycling or treatment units, while the non-recoverable part is sent to incinerators or landfills. For Veolia Environmental Services, such stations are considered an important crossroads and a significant added value step.
The three major types of waste-to-energy conversion are:
Municipal waste incineration plant used to generate electricity or produce steam supplied to a district heating network or industrial site.
Waste incineration plants that recover energy to produce electricity or steam for supplying a heating network or an industrial site.
Wastewater and stormwater collection and treatment. Known as "sanitation" in its most basic forms.
All collection, transportation and treatment techniques for wastewater and stormwater from an urban community, an industrial site or private land prior to its discharge into the natural environment. The removal of sludge from the treatment systems is part of wastewater services.
Public system for the collection and transportation of wastewater to a treatment plant.
Receives and treats the wastewater generated by the population (and industry) connected to the wastewater network, as well as stormwater (for combined networks). It discharges treated water (compliant with the limit values designated by the authorities) into the environment and a produces a waste product called sludge. Wastewater treatment plant Plant specifically for the treatment of wastewater.
This waste is produced by operating wastewater treatment facilities and the maintenance of wastewater and stormwater systems. Its content is largely organic (sludge, grease, treatment plant screening waste, tank draining waste, etc.) or mineral (treatment plant grit, sludge, wastewater network cleaning grit, water course dredging waste, etc.).
Electrical and electronic equipment is generating an increasing volume of household waste handled by city services: brown goods (TVs, radios, telephones, etc.), white good (refrigerators, etc.) and gray goods (computers). Their volume is steadily rising. Electronic waste can be harmful for the environment if it is not first adequately decontaminated.
Platform used to weigh vehicles.
An area containing water withdrawal wells that take groundwater from an aquifer.
Area including a series of water intake structures pumping underground water from the same aquifer.
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.
French system used to demonstrate and evaluate energy savings made. These certificates must enable savings of 54 TWh by 2008.
A professional term to designate long, high piles of waste to be composted in order to facilitate its decomposition.