Faced with this fact, we must change how we life and how we produce. This means reducing our consumption of natural resources, but also reusing and recycling them on a massive scale.
What is the circular economy?
Inherited from a time when natural resources were thought to be inexhaustible, the traditional pattern of our economy is linear: "take-make-consume-discard". Today it has reached its limits.
We are putting an unsustainable strain on the planet's resources. This is why we need to reduce the burden of our economy on the planet and think in terms of a circular economy, adopting the 3Rs formula: "reduce - reuse - recycle".
Not only does this new model transform waste into raw materials, but it also has the potential to drastically reduce our CO2 emissions. The more we recycle, the more we reduce emissions.
Finally, the circular economy is not only a factor of ecological transformation. It also has a direct impact on regional growth: the European Commission estimated in 2020 that 700,000 jobs could be created by 2030 in Europe alone.
By 2020, our revenue from the circular economy is already €5.2 billion, 25% above our target.
The circular economy applied to water, waste and energy
By means of our solutions based on the circular economy, we propose ways to conserve and renew water, energy and material resources.
In concrete terms, how does the circular economy system work? For raw materials used in production, this means, for example, recycling as much plastic, paper, glass and precious metal as possible. One example is the case of "rare earths," which are used in the composition of all our electronic objects and which we are finally beginning to know how to recycle. The challenge is crucial because they often come from areas suffering from high geopolitical tensions and are difficult to extract.
Renewing our resources also involves the most vital of all: water. We are therefore putting in place solutions to treat and reuse wastewater, so that it can be used for industrial activities or irrigation, for example. When they cannot be used, we ensure that its discharge into the natural environment is not a source of pollution.
Lastly, in terms of energy, we make the most of renewable sources, particularly recovered energy: biomass, biogas, waste heat, etc. So that nothing is lost, and waste can in turn be a source of energy. For example, we separate organic matter from other waste to produce both biogas, a source of energy, and composted fertilizer for farming.
Collection of industrial and commercial waste
We provide an integrated waste management system to our industrial customers. Every year, hundreds of millions of metric tons of waste, sometimes hazardous to humans and the environment, are generated by industry. It needs to be dealt with to reduce its volume and improve its treatment. This is what our solutions do, helping in particular to reduce transport and landfill costs.
Handling and treating construction waste
We improve the management of our customers' construction waste. Too often, poor sorting at source does not allow this waste to be treated under good conditions, when it is not simply piled up in "illegal dumps".