In a press release, the Draguignan public prosecutor announced this Friday, November 22 that Stéphane Bonifay, manager of the company Ecorecept liquidated in 2023, and also a member of the general management of the materials group Bonifay and vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry du Var, is suspected of waste trafficking. The Var leader had already been placed in pre-trial detention last August, as France Bleu Provence revealed to you, suspected of being the sponsor of the fire in March 2023 at the Bormes-les-Mimosas recycling center.
In this new case, an investigation into waste trafficking was opened in 2023 by the “economic, financial and environmental center” of the Draguignan public prosecutor's office after several DREAL checks on the Ecorecept company’s activity sites. These checks made it possible to uncover facts of illegal waste management.
“The investigations entrusted to the research brigade of the Brignoles gendarmerie revealed that the company headed by Stéphane Bonifay won several public waste treatment contracts, notably for the Toulouse metropolis and the Brignoles conurbation, by offering very low prices” indicates the public prosecutor. The profits from infringements and the environmental damage are estimated at 10 million euros.
Waste illegally transferred to Spain or buried in Flassans-sur-Issole
According to the prosecution, these practices “very competitive” were made possible by “violation of all waste disposal rules”. With in particular a lack of treatment of waste supposed to be recycled and the hazardous waste storage by the saturation of the La Garde and Six-Fours-les-Plages sites
Hundreds of tonnes of waste were also illegally transferred to Spain. Thousands of tonnes of waste, including inert waste, would also have been buried on the site of the Saint-Baillon quarry in Flassans-sur-Issole.
2.5 million euros in criminal assets seized
The investigation also led to the seizure of criminal assets amounting to 2.5 million euros. These seizures concern bank accounts of the Var leader but also real estate and boats.
Stéphane Bonifay and his company are summoned April 1, 2025 before the Draguignan criminal court.
The prosecution also specifies that the company Ecorecept having been placed in compulsory liquidation, the company which took over the processing sites “had to bear the costs of the operations to bring them up to standard”.
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