Veolia promotes the local production and use of renewable energy. On the Artois Compost site near Arras (France), the Group, through its subsidiary ETS Environnement, turns waste into biogas and compost via the anaerobic digestion of organic matter.
Operational since 2012, the Artois Compost multi-sector treatment unit recycles organic waste from agriculture, food industries, local authorities, and supermarkets.
Anaerobic digestion, a complete bio-waste recycling loop
Advanced sorting techniques are used to isolate organic matter from the rest of the waste. It is then placed in a digester to be degraded. In the absence of oxygen, the organic matter decomposes and produces gas that can be converted into electricity by combustion and a digestate that can be used as compost.
The process generates about 3.5 million m3 of biogas per year. 25,000 tons of treated waste will allow the production of 8000 MWh of electricity, equivalent to the annual consumption of 2,700 households. Recycling biomass this way avoids the emission of 2,000 equivalent tons of CO2 every year. The organic matter that does not decompose during the anaerobic digestion process - 7,000 tons per year - is reused as compost by local farmers.
25,000 tons of waste treated
each year
3.5 million m3 of biogas
generated
8,000 MWh of electricity generated
each year
7,000 metric tons of digestate used as fertilizer
2,000 tons of emissions
in CO2 equivalent avoided