The Strategic Committee for the "Waste Transformation and Recovery" Sector, whose members include the contract was signed on January 18 under the aegis of the National Industry Council (CNI) between the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition, the Ministry of the Economy and Finance and the waste recovery sector represented by the Confederation of Environmental Professions (CME), is committed to the development of the industrial sector of solid recovered fuels (CSR), through 14 projects throughout the territory.
Ahe recovery and recycling sector meets the challenge of the ecological, energy and digital transition of our economy. Its objective is to collect and transform waste in order to reduce the negative impacts of economic activities.
The "Waste Processing and Recovery" contract has identified the development of the CSR sector as a priority area of work, in order to meet the growing need for energy recovery from non-recyclable fractions. This waste, resulting from sorting refusals, has the particularity of having a significant calorific potential. It provides a local alternative to imported carbon-based energy. They are intended for industrial companies wishing to change their energy mix, as well as for local authorities wishing to use their waste as a resource and develop alternative, less carbonaceous energy sources made available on their heating network.
In order to promote the emergence of a real CSR consumption chain, 14 industrial projects were identified by the Committee, following a Call for Expression of Interest (CEI). These projects are led by players in the waste sector, but also more broadly by players in the energy sector. They will be subject to specific monitoring by the CME and the sector as well as by the State.
The energy produced by the CSRs identified in the 14 projects will replace fossil fuels, saving 350,000 tonnes of CO2 equivalent each year. Located throughout France, they represent 320 MW of installed capacity, which, in the form of heat, would heat a city of 1,200,000 inhabitants, equivalent to the sum of the heating networks of Lyon, Grenoble and Toulouse.
Each year, this energy produced from non-recyclable waste will make it possible to avoid an energy import equivalent to more than 1.8 million barrels of oil, representing an annual amount of around €100M.
They will also make it possible to divert 970,000 tonnes of waste from landfill, a significant contribution to the 7 million tonnes that still need to be recovered by 2025.
This new step is a concrete expression of the emergence of a genuine French industrial sector, combining economic competitiveness and progress in environmental protection, which will complement the excellence of the French waste management sector.
(Source: CP. Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition and Ministry of Economy and Finance)
