In a building of more than 4,000 m², hundreds of packages, crushed and of all colors, follow a long path on a conveyor belt, similar to a roller coaster at a fun fair. Along the way, they pass through optical sorting machines where they are classified and separated gradually. “Each time, the waste arrives in a sorting machine. And each time, a sorting is carried out,” explains Stéphane Bertrand, the site manager, to AFP.
Blocs. Two machines are thus responsible for sorting transparent waste, while two others, a little further away, put aside those made of colored polyethylene terephthalate (PET), such as sparkling water bottles or oil cans. Waste that meets the machine’s criteria will be separated from the others and will continue on its way to a final point of passage, in a cabin where agents will check that there are no unwanted objects, such as paper or cardboard.
In total, ten optical sorting machines are installed, supplemented by a robot. The factory also houses a self-diagnostic device based on artificial intelligence to analyze the quality of plastics and reduce sorting errors. All this waste arrives by truck in the form of “bales”, large blocks of compacted and mixed waste. They come from one of the 120 yellow bin waste sorting centers, which put them aside.
Recycle more. Existing sorting centres continue to use household products that they have been sorting for a long time, such as transparent PET water bottles or laundry detergents, explains Éric Fromont, director of sorting and re-sorting centre projects at Citeo in France. They also use a “third flow”, intended to set aside seven other materials, which will be processed by re-sorting centres such as the one in Épinal.
Since last year, yellow bins can accommodate all household packaging, whatever its material, except glass. But for each molecule, there is a different recycling technique. For this reason, white PET, with which milk bottles are made, pots and trays of fruit and vegetables, cold meats, or pastries, polystyrene yogurt pots or several types of thermoplastic trays must be subject to specific sorting in order to be subsequently sent, and in sufficient quality, to recyclers. Some 25,000 tonnes of these plastics, which are usually rarely recycled, must be recycled each year in this sorting center, the second to have opened its doors in France, after another in Ruffey-lès-Beaune (Côte-d’Or).
In the sorting center of Epinal in the Vosges, June 28, 2028, final verification of the selected waste. – Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN – Epinal (AFP)
12 minutes. Installed in place of a former sorting center in Épinal, which was completely emptied to allow the installation of the imposing machines, the new plant is capable of processing waste in 12 minutes. These installations required 19 million euros, of which 15 million were financed by Citeo, the organization that organizes the collection, sorting and recycling of household waste in France.
In total, four centers are planned by Citeo at the moment, with a recycling target of 70,000 tonnes of packaging per year. The one in Épinal, equipped by the organization, is managed by Suez. “This represents a certain volume, because the density of plastics is quite light,” notes Mr. Bertrand. Once sorted, the waste, divided by material, is collected by trucks which will transport it to plastic recycling customers. From Épinal, the material is sent to “Colmar, Verdun, Mâcon or Belgium”, explains Mr. Fromont. In 2022, only 24.5% of plastic packaging was recycled in France, while the objective set by the European Union is to reach 55% by 2030.
Marine LEDOUX
© Agence France-Presse
