Saint Etienne Metropole signs the contract for the construction and operation of a new sorting center for all household packaging with the SUEZ Group
In order to treat waste in an even more virtuous way, Saint-Étienne Métropole, Loire Forez Agglomeration, the municipality communities of Forez Est, Monts du Lyonnais and Pilat Rhodanien and the Velay Pilat Intercommunal Household Waste Treatment and Collection Syndicate (SICTOM) have joined forces to entrust the SUEZ Group with the creation and operation of a new intercommunity sorting center in Firminy, on the existing sorting center site. This new larger and more modern facility will enable the sorting and recovery of all household packaging (plastics, cardboard, paper, and metals) and will process up to 45,000 tons of waste from the selective waste collections for the region's 660,000 inhabitants and from third-party contributions, each year.
This twelve-year contract, with a cumulative revenue of approximately €82 million, includes an investment of €32 million dedicated to the new sorting center. It will start with two years of works and will be commissioned in 2023.
The new sorting center will be a real local showcase for innovation: it will reuse the buildings of the former site, help people gain access to professional employment, and use robots designed by a local company (Siléane) to carry out the most difficult and complex sorting tasks. With this new facility, the region will benefit from a tool at the cutting edge of technology and in line with the latest regulations1 which will enable it to increase recycling performance by simplifying waste-sorting practices for citizens.
1 The French Anti-Waste Law for a Circular Economy (AGEC Law) plans to extend the possibility of sorting all plastic packaging to all households (including rigid plastic food containers and blister packaging).
