The black bins of Lot and Tarn-et-Garonne are used to heat Montauban

You're probably wondering where the waste from your kitchen's black trash bin ends up. In Tarn-et-Garonne and Lot, these black trash end up, not underground as was the case in the past, but in the form of heat and electricity. A recycling plant was completely renovated in Montauban for an investment estimated at 50 million euros. It burns up to 38,000 tonnes of waste per year and generates heat.

“Waste becomes something valuable”

This heat produces electrical energy via a turbine and also heats the equivalent of 4,200 homes in Montauban, as highlighted by its mayor Marie-Claude Berly, who is also president of Sirtomad (Mixed Union for the Treatment of Household Waste and Other Waste):

“The site today produces twice as much thermal energy as before. This effectively allows us to produce heat and hot water for a certain number of large institutional customers such as the hospital, the 17th Regiment of Génie Parachutiste, the Bourdelle high school, the Ingres college but also a certain number of schools in the city Today this heat network extends from 4.5 to 13.5 km. the essence of the circular economy Waste does not become waste but also becomes something recoverable.“

The site employs 24 employees of the Séché Environnement group. Yes thereThe energy released by combustion makes it possible to heat public buildings in Montauban, the equivalent of 4,200 homes, it also makes it possible to produce electricity as highlighted Bruno Jarriand, director at Séché Environnement, the plant manager:

“The factory producesup to 18 Gwh/year of electrical energy. This energy is used for the site’s own self-consumption. The rest, i.e. 15 GWh, is injected into the public network. This is the equivalent of the needs of 15,000 households.”