Since January 1, 2024, sorting of biowaste concerns all professionals and individuals. In Strasbourg, these food or kitchen scraps are sent to a methanizer, whose capacity has just doubled, and makes it possible to produce gas.
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It’s a gesture that many residents of the Strasbourg Eurometropolis have become accustomed to: sorting kitchen or meal leftovers, before depositing them in dedicated collection points. “Since it was implemented, I come between once and twice a week, depending on the volume of waste“, says this resident of Oberschaeffolsheim (Bas-Rhin).
Like her, the people of Strasbourg have taken the plunge. They sort on average 15 kilos of bio-waste per year, more than the 12 hoped for. The Eurometropolis encourages residents to sort even more, with the aim of ultimately recovering 7,500 tonnes per year of waste from our meals.
Sorting bio-waste has been compulsory since the start of 2024. And those who thought that this measure was just hot air are ultimately not so far from reality. The bio-waste of the inhabitants of Strasbourg and surrounding areas is transformed into biogas, after passing through a methanizer installed in Oberschaeffolsheim.
The installation opened in 2020 receives 17,000 tonnes of bio-waste each year, including 4,000 which come from households. This makes it possible to supply gas to 2,000 homes. The methanizer will soon commission a new digester, which will double the quantity of biowaste treated, and logically the quantity of biogas produced.
Other products from the methanizer are supplied to farmers or green space managers to serve as organic fertilizer, particularly through spreading.
This Saturday, October 12, 2024, the methanization plant opened its doors to the public, to explain how it benefits from the treatment of this waste that they previously threw in the classic trash can. “This visit will allow me to then explain to people in my neighborhood how it works“, explains a local resident.
The approach around Strasbourg started in 2022. The first interest was to lighten the blue trash, which goes to the incinerator, and where food remains represent a third of the weight. The carbon footprint of waste is reduced thanks to reduced storage and combustion.
Three more municipalities in the Eurometropolis (Lingolsheim, Illkirch-graffenstaden and Ostwald) and some districts of Strasbourg have yet to be equipped with collection points. This should be achieved by 2025, according to the official timetable.
