We turn waste into materials

Around the world, natural resources are running out. Veolia uses waste to produce new resources and contribute to a circular economy.
Contexte
Palladium
Gas
Gold
Oil
Lithium
Copper
Manganèse
Oil
Iron
Silver
Oil
Gas
Rare-earth elements
Water
Cadmium
Lithium
Iron
Oil
Gas

Natural resources are
running out

Year
2014

Gold
Nickel
Gas
Rare-earth elements
Oil
Gold
Lithium
Indium
Rare-earth elements
Tungsten
Iron
Oil
Rare-earth elements
Silver
Oil
Gas
Lithium
Iron
Oil

They are used to making all of the products we use

Yet our appetite is growing

We produce 4 billion metric tons of waste every year

and we only recycle one billion of it.

If properly recycled, this waste can be a valuable resource

It can provide a new source of energy and materials

Issue

The circular economy: a new industrial revolution is underway

In a conventional economy, everything is linear, from cradle to grave: extraction, production and disposal.

In the circular economy, consumption patterns are designed to mirror the cyclical approach of natural ecosystems.

Once used, all goods provide by-products that can be reused in other manufacturing processes, creating a virtuous cycle more in tune with the environment.

Solution

Veolia recycles televisions and cell phones in Angers, France

Instead of being tossed in the garbage, these consumer goods are disassembled and used to provide new resources, such as high-quality polymers (plastics) suitable for use as secondary raw materials to create new products, like these bathroom scales made by a leading French manufacturer of household appliances.

Solution

Rostock recycles 1 billion plastic bottles every year

Every year, 200 billion plastic bottles are made worldwide for juice, soda, household cleaning products and a whole range of other uses. Veolia’s treatment and recycling facility in port of Rostock, northern Germany, recycles 1 billion plastic bottles a year.
That is the equivalent of saving 31,000 liters of crude oil.

Solution

In Pécs, Hungary, we heat an entire city with biomass