The inhabitants of Toulouse Métropole hope to finally be able to breathe. Three weeks after the start of the garbage collectors’ strike, and with garbage piling up in the streets, a new negotiation meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, January 5.
The opportunity to wonder how the metropolitan waste is treated, and how many there are. In 2020, more than 203,179 tonnes of household waste were thus collected by the garbage collectors, that is to say what cannot be sorted. It represents more than 500 tons every day throughout the Toulouse Métropole territory!
Burned…
Waste that is all burnt. The majority in the Mirail incinerator, managed by SETMI (Veolia) with its large smoking chimney. The energy recovered to heat buildings in the neighborhood. The other part of household waste is also incinerated, north of Haute-Garonne, on the Econotre (Suez) site in Bessières.
As for the residues of this waste, because there is always some left after burning, they are buried at a specialized Veolia site in the Tarn, in Graulhet.
… or valued
But there is also waste that is recycled: glass, paper or metal packaging, certain plastics, and textiles. Almost 130,000 tonnes are recovered each year.
Finally, there is everything that does not fit or no longer in the bins, with the recycling centers, bulky items, or the compost at home or at the foot of the building. 46,000 tonnes of compost are thus produced in 2020.
Waste management costs around 100 million euros each year in Toulouse Métropole. Precisely 99,045,000 euros in 2020. A figure on the rise.