24 April 2019
Treatment and recovery of waste
Reunion Island: Confirming its zero waste trajectory
This multi-channel facility, which won the ADEME invitation for projects in 2016, will promote the island’s circular economy.
It will treat 60% of inhabitants’ waste and generate renewable electricity for more than 10,000 homes.
On a single site, the facility combines units for the anaerobic digestion of biowaste, sorting and processing of recyclable materials, refuse-derived fuel and energy recovery from those fuels.
This project will contribute to transforming unavoidable waste into resources and reduce landfills by a factor of 10 by 2023.
The consortium led by CNIM, a French equipment manufacturer and industrial contractor operating worldwide, was chosen by ILEVA, the joint syndicate for waste treatment in Reunion Island’s southern and western micro-regions, to design, build, operate and maintain the island’s Pierrefonds South waste facility. This consortium is made up of firms that are all leaders in their fields: Spie Batignolles, GTOI, Colas Projects, Bollegraaf, Naldeo, Atelier Architectes and Architrav.
This multi-channel facility is a key project for Reunion Island’s energy transition. Scheduled for commissioning by CNIM and its partners by the end of 2022, it will take up the energy and environment related challenges facing the island’s western and southern regions. It will treat the waste produced by 60% of Reunion’s inhabitants and produce renewable electric power for more the 10,000 homes. The project will solve an urgent environmental problem by putting an end to landfilling. The Pierrefonds landfill is due to be shut down in 2022 as it will have reached its maximum capacity of nearly 8 million metric tons of waste.
By producing renewable energy and reducing waste burial by 90%, this project will respond to the requirements of the energy transition law promoting green growth. This means reducing waste burial by at least 50% by 2025.