Every year in Martinique, nearly 300,000 metric tons of household waste are collected. In the context of environmental protection, waste recovery is a major challenge; waste management is also of great importance in terms of public health and the recovery of resources (raw materials, energy).
What is meant by “waste recovery”?
According to the law of July 13, 1992, recovery is “reuse, recycling, or any other action aimed at recovering reusable materials or energy from waste“. Waste recovery, or recycling, therefore refers to all the processes by which waste is transformed into a new material. Simply put, it involves giving waste a second life; it is therefore the opposite of simply sending it to a landfill.
There are various methods of resource recovery: recycling, which involves directly reintroducing waste into the production cycle from which it originated, either as a complete or partial replacement for the raw material. For example, a broken bottle can be melted down to make a new one.
Reuse involves restoring waste to its original purpose. Repurposing, on the other hand, involves using waste for a purpose other than its original one. Regeneration is a physical or chemical process that restores waste to its original characteristics, thereby allowing it to be used as a substitute for a new raw material. Finally, energy recovery involves using the heat contained in waste by burning it and recovering the energy produced to heat buildings, generate electricity, and so on. It is, therefore, the exploitation of the energy source contained within waste.
A policy to improve waste management
For the past 20 years, France has set a goal of recycling its waste. Significant progress has already been made, and given the current strain on raw material supplies, there is a real environmental, social, and economic imperative to consume as few resources as possible.
France has therefore committed to implementing a government action plan to improve waste management. The plan focuses on prevention, recycling, incineration, landfilling, and the recovery of organic waste. This action plan aims to implement the commitments of the Grenelle Environment Forum, which set as priority objectives the reduction of waste generation at the source and the expansion of recycling and recovery. France’s goal is to reduce household waste generation by approximately 7.% over the next five years, improve the recycling rate, and decrease the amount of waste incinerated.
This plan is therefore structured around five major areas: the first focuses on prevention, through information and awareness-raising measures (promoting waste reduction) aimed at the general public and local governments; the second focuses on recycling (increasing and facilitating the recycling of recyclable waste to reduce waste); the third concerns the recovery of organic waste; the fourth pillar sets limits on the amount of waste incinerated; and finally, the fifth is dedicated to methods for recycling construction and demolition waste.
Waste Management Methods in Martinique
Waste management is also a major issue islandwide. In Martinique, waste collection and treatment are handled by four EPCIs spread across the entire island: SMITOM, CACEM, Cap Nord, and Espace Sud.
Martinique stands out for its high level of waste treatment infrastructure, particularly thanks to its household waste incinerator and its Organic Waste Treatment Center, which processes green waste and the fermentable fraction of household waste.
Located in the town of Robert, in the Pointe Jean-Claude neighborhood, this facility exclusively hosts on its premises biowaste (organic waste), which falls into three categories: green waste from municipalities and landscaping companies, the fermentable fraction of household waste (food scraps, paper, newspapers, and small plant matter), and biodegradable industrial and commercial waste.
Thanks to the anaerobic digestion and at the composting, the Organic Recycling Center makes it possible to generate electricity starting on methane resulting from the decomposition of organic waste. This center serves as the first unit of this type overseas, the second unit a key player in Martinique's waste management sector (after CACEM), and the third unit anaerobic digestion facilities in France.
We must therefore recognize the efforts made at the local level, while continuing to pursue them for the benefit of as many people as possible…
Linsey MONPELAT, Pascal SAFFACHE
