Paris MRF Receives Certifications

The material recovery facility (MRF) in Nanterre, France, near Paris, operated by Veolia Environmental Services, has earned ISO and OHSAS certifications, according to a press release from the company.

The facility has obtained ISO 9001 certification for quality, ISO 14001 certification for environmental management and OHSAS certification 18001 for health and safety.

In June 2004 Veolia Environmental Services was awarded a five-year contract from SYCTOM, France’s largest joint district authority for municipal waste management, to operate its new MRF for source-separated waste in Nanterre. From the beginning, Veolia committed to implementing an environmental management system that would integrate quality, the environment and occupational health and safety.

In 2005 the Nanterre MRF handled approximately 27,000 metric tons of material from source-separated collection of cardboard packaging, plastics, steel, aluminum, newspapers, magazines, office paper, etc. The material comes from 16 districts in Ile de France (Colombes, Bois-Colombes, Clichy, La GarenneColombes, Levallois-Perret, Courbevoie, Nanterre, Puteaux, Neuilly-sur-Seine, SeÌvres, Suresnes, Boulogne, Saint-Cloud, Vaucresson, Marnes-la-Coquette and Garches) and three Paris arrondissements (the 16th and a part of the 7th and 15th).

Of the volume received, 77 percent of the sorted scrap material (nearly 20,800 metric tons) were recycled.

In the second half of 2006, the Nanterre MRF, which is designed to eventually handle 40,000 metric tons of waste, will extend its services to other districts in the Hauts de Seine deìpartement. Veolia Environmental Services will then be recycling the source-separated waste of almost 1 million people in the western Paris.