Two kilometers of strip rolling, a sorting system, a ballistic screen to separate waste according to their density … The plant at Rainbow Couëron, near Nantes, is now "the sorting of the waste more automated built by Veolia in the world, "said Antoine Frerot, its Director General, inaugurating new facilities Friday.
Veolia has invested 18 million euros (1.2 million financed by ADEME, the Agency for Environment and Energy Management) on the site, which digests most of the waste of Nantes Métropole Its 24 municipalities and 580,000 inhabitants. Two channels were fully renovated in two years to get to the "generation 2" Rainbow Factory, entrusted to Veolia in public service delegation, from 1994 to 2019.
Soon, the sort will be chemical and biological
The sorting of selective collection, one of the biggest in France, isolates now eight categories of recyclables, including three varieties of plastic, cardboard or steel. Its capacity increased to 10 tonnes per hour has doubled compared to the old equipment.
Another chain, which sorts the industrial waste, it is equipped with a mill opening to separate the different materials that make up the discarded objects. It will deal in 2011 twice as scrap to create the site and the appreciation of 50% in tonnage handled, against 25% previously bad credit personal loan lenders.
Nantes Metropole is the largest customer of Arc en Ciel, which provides 60% of urban waste entering the plant.Despite the investments made since 1994 on the site, more than 45 million, the amount of waste has increased by only about 20% in 2011 to 254,000 tonnes. Progress is measured primarily upon withdrawal, "says Alexander Mallinson, regional director of Veolia Environmental Services. In fact, the production of reusable materials jumped: In 2011, the site Rainbow produce 23,000 tons of recycled paper and cardboard, 4000 tons of metal, 7,000 tons of wood …
Arc en Ciel, which also includes an incinerator and a green waste site in Saint-Herblain, achieves annual turnover of 32 million euros, less than 1% of income from the activity of Veolia in France . However, as the site of Ludres, near Nancy, it is emblematic of the innovative drive of Veolia.The world's leading utilities, which "invests heavily in research, with 850 researchers and developers, 200 partnerships, develops methods already sort of tomorrow, chemical or biological," said Antoine Frerot.
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