AGGLOMERATION

Sustainability and organic household waste management study

Abstract: During the last fifty years the concern has emerged regarding environemental and waste management techniques, especially in developped countries which has contributed to the formation of numerous local initiatives. For as much we can wonder up to which point waste management is an advantage to protect the environment. The purpose of this study is to show how local initiatives could impact global concerns. We shall only concentrate on developped countries for our purposes. Key words: sustainability, waste management, organic household waste

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 From a global concern

As the world population has expanded exponentially from 4 billion in 1970 to nearly 7,5 billion today, the environmental impacts of human activities have increased proportionally.

50 % of the world's population lives in cities or urban areas especially in developped countries causing pressure on the local environment. According to the European Environment Agency (EEA) this increases to 82% in Europe.

Country / % of urban population 1960 2015 Australia 82% 89% United States 70% 82% China 16% 56% Spain 57% 80% 62% 80% Source: http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SP.URB.TOTL.IN.ZS

All cities around the world are facing the question of waste management as a challenge to minimise the environmental impact of human technologies and consumption. Most European countries introduced legal regulations regarding waste management in the second half of the 19th century with hygene problems due to growing industrialisation and expansion of cities. This

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 concern kept on growing through the 20th century with, among others, the work of the Club of Rome and the publication of the Meadows report that identifies five key problematic areas including environmental degradation.

In 1972, the first conference of the United Nations about environment proclaimed:

“The natural growth of population continuously presents problems for the preservation of the environment, and adequate policies and measures should be adopted, as appropriate, to face these problems. Of all things in the world, people are the most precious. It is the people that propel social progress, create social wealth, develop science and technology and, through their hard work, continuously transform the human environment. Along with social progress and the advance of production, science and technology, the capability of man to improve the environment increases with each passing day A point has been reached in history when we must shape our actions throughout the world with a more prudent care for their environmental consequences. Through ignorance or indifference we can do massive and irreversible harm to the earthly environment on which our life and well being depend. (…) To achieve this environmental goal will demand the acceptance of responsibility by citizens and communities and by enterprises and institutions at every level, all sharing equitably in common efforts. Individuals in all walks of life as well as organizations in many fields, by their values and the sum of their actions, will shape the world environment of the future.”

In 1987, the Brundtland report defined for the first time the meaning of “sustainable development” for intergenerational equity on social, economical and environemental stakes encouraging member states to improve their consideration of these three pillars.

In 1999, the european landfill directive defined the aims regarding a better waste management in every European country : the amount of biodegradable municipal waste must be reduced by 50% by 2009 and 35% by 2016.

Following the Grenelle law in 2009, France defined its National Strategy for Sustainable Development. The first challenge announced was “sustainable production and consumption”. Within the objectives of this challenge : the aim was to reduce by 7% the production of domestic waste per inhabitant before 2013.

Sources: ONU

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 The composition of domestic waste relies on the level of urbanization and wealth of the country. In the world, the waste composition is categorised as : organic, paper, plastic, glass, metal and other. Its treatment also depends on the level of wealth of the countries, giving a sad panorama of inequalities between poor and rich countries matching the level of economic, environemental and social stakes:

In developped countries the acknowledged method of burying waste has shown its limits (soils pollution) and waste management options are now more and more reliying on the great R's : Re-use, Recycle, Recover. Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSW) has to follow this logic to match the expectancy to avoid urban pollution and health hazards.

In France, according to the French agency for environment and energy control (ADEME) 35% of bins are filled with oragnic waste. It remains the most important category of waste, in fact the proportion of biowaste is equal to glass, metal and plastic waste all together. Organic waste is essentially composed of foods scraps, shells, eggs and garden waste (grass, leaves, wood).

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 … to a local initiative

70% of the world's population lives in coastal regions, 40% in France, it rises to 80% in , which leads to greater environmental impact on the surrounding area, leading to concrete and necessary environmental actions.

The city of Lorient is comprised from 200,000 inahabitants from 25 cities. In the year 2000 the council took an initiative to reduce the impact of treatment and allow the collection of organic household waste and prevent its combustion. This remains an incredible achievement for such a large city.

Lorient

Location

Lorient is a coastal city situated in Brittany,France, to the west of the department of , It has developped on the Atlantic ocean at the mouth of two riversThe and the .

The hydrographic network is one of the most important component of the city, located between two watersheds: the Scorff and the coastal watershed (The Ter pond), it presents a low relief of 46 meters. 4% of the city is located on damp zones with a large scale of biodiversity. Influenced by its coastal environment, the average temperature is about 11.4°C, between an oceanic and continental climat, the annual level of precipitation is 927mm, the winds are predominantely west, south west.

The city territory counts 1742 ha with only 30 ha of agricultural space classified as natural areas in order to protect them from artificialization. Most of the farming exploitations within the territory of the city are a source of supply for local biological products.

Sources: MLCC, Lorient agglomeration

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 Historical background

As with many coastal cities, traces of human settlement date back to 3000BC. The city has a long time relationship with marine activities as it grew through international trading, with the Company of Indies. Officially founded in 1666 by the Company itself, the original aim was to build a strategic port and develop a naval construction site. In 1744 the city erected fortifications and kept on growing until the population settled outside the walls and progressively created areas close to the ones we know today. The industrial revolution gave a new impetus to the city allowing it to develop around new marine activities, ship building, fisheries, etc. After the first World War the demographics increased and new neighborhoods were added to the existing city. But the Second world war has had the biggest influence on what the city really is now. Taken by the germans in 1941 as military headquarters the city was almost completely destroyed (90% of the buildings) by the allied bombing supposed to destroy the german base. The reconstruction of Lorient took 50 years and some scars are still visible all around the city and its neighborhood. This period also allowed the town to completely rethink urbanism. Freed from the historical center, Lorient decided to create a new urban landscape inherited from Le Corbusier's ideas and over 30 architects trying to avoid the problems encountered with large housing developments in many cities in the 1960s in France. Individual houses were singled out and public services were constructed in the middle of the city, giving a new meaning to accesibility and social life. This work is acknowledged as a patrimonial value and the city has been recognized in 2006 with the “Art and History City” label. The rehabilitation is still in progress giving to the city the opportunity to test and design new ideas. As an example, in 2008, the architect Jacques Ferrier signed “la cité de la voile, Eric Tabarly” just over the german submarine base as an nautical development hub, and transformed the whole area into a place of encounter between sea, culture, commercial activities and leisure (sailing, walks, visits). Considered as a modern city due to its late birth with the Company of Indies, it's rapid adaptation to the naval and commerce industry and its fast growth, the urban history of Lorient doesn't go back before the 17th century and gives the city a strong capacity of adaptation, from a social, architectural and economic point of view.

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 Demographics and Social

With 57 961 inhabitants in 2013 and a density of 3316 inhabitants/km2 Lorient is the second city of Brittany in terms of density after Rennes.

1968 1975 1982 1990 1999 2008 2013 Population 66,444 69,777 62,554 59,271 59,224 58,148 57,961 Source, INSEE recensement

As shown by the figures, Lorient lost over 8,000 inhabitants between 1968 and 2013 but the loss seems more stable since the end of the 90s. The visible migratory deficit is not compensated by a positive natural balance and can also be explained by the periurbanisation phenomena and the extension of urban centers.

As the biggest city of the agglomeration, Lorient leads the way on the surrounding territory that includes 25 towns in the region. Since the infusion of the community of in 2014 the population has increased from 90,000 inhabitants to 200,000 inhabitants under the name of “Lorient Agglomeration”.

Cities population in 2013 Brandérion 1 458 2 413 Calan 1 116 6 938 Cléguer 3 383 Gâvres 721 Gestel 2 784 2 312 11 157 16 155 2 134 Inzinzac-Lochrist 6 503 22 421 7 765 795 Larmor-Plage 8 583 Locmiquélic 4 232 Lorient 59 701 18 826 Plouay 5 522 Pont-Scorff 3 588 Port-Louis 2 741 Quéven 8 898 1 461 5 375 Total 206982 Source: Lorient Agglomeration

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 The project

The collection of organic household waste officially started in 2000 within the city of Lorient, 50, 000 inhabitants were joined by 90,000 from “Cap Lorient”before extended to the entire Lorient Agglomeration and its 205,000 inhabitants. With the statement that kitchen wastes represent 60 % of organic wastes, the main goal of the operation was to promote a biowaste recovery instead of incineration with a social, environemental, political and financial project attached to it. It actually took three years for the project to be realised. The collection really started in 2003.

Chronology of the project

2000 : The idea of better waste management was suggested. The aim was to initiate a selective collection of organic waste from door to door. The settlement is that 60% of organic wastes are kitchen waste.

2002: The agglomeration community obtained the waste management responsability on the territory following the formation of the Public Establishment of comunal coooperation. In 2002, the household residual waste (that can't be treated) within the city of Lorient was about 313kg/inhabitant/year.

2003: Launch of the operation. Reinsertion workers were employed to distribute kitchen bio-buckets, door to door, to the 90,000 inhabitants of Lorient where the actions started before a progressive extension on the territory. Meanwhile, each house or building was equipped with specific bins for a door to door collection. The collection was organised once a week, and at the start of the operation in the middle of summer created much anger amongst the population because of smells. The city fastly adapted and distributed biodegrable bags to place into the kitchen buckets.

Source: Lorient Agglomeration

2004 : The size of individual containers for residual waste was reduced to encourage better sorting of residual waste.

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 2008: The household residual waste per inhabitant was reduced to 219 kg per inhabitant/year (313kg in 2002). Between 2004 and 2008 the selective collection of biowaste went up, from 55kg to 151 kg per inhabitant/year gaining around 8% each year.

Gross tonnage Evolution in % 2003 2010 2011 2012 2013 LORIENT AGGLOMÉRATION 2012 - 2013

biowastes 5 545 6 936 7 588 7 611 7 758 + 1,93%

Residual wastes 45 570 39 473 39 777 38 931 37 452 - 3,80%

Source: Lorient Agglomeration

2015: The collection is now available for 71 professional producers (bakeries, restaurants, supermarkets, schools) which amounts to 1,7 tons per week.

Final data for 2015: 8,082 tons of organic household waste collected.

For the moment, the collections are organised once a week for the inhabitants, twice a week for professionals.

Collection and treatment of organic household waste

The community governance is ensuring the collection for the towns of: Caudan, Gavres, Groix, Ploemeur, Guidel, Hennebont, Inziniac-Lochrist, Lanester, Languidic, Locmiquélic, Port-Louis, Quéven and Riantec : 114 000 inhabitants, 55% of the population. The rest is ensured by a private firm, Loris Services for Brandérion, Cléguer, Gestel, Larmor- Plage,Lorient and Pont-Scorff.

All biowaste is taken to the waste sorting center of Caudan located 44km away from Lorient. The installation is managed by a private local company, GEVAL.

The waste is emptied on a 200 square meter area. After a treatment in a biopreparator with the addition of structurants the preparation is then put into a compost tunnel. After a period of fermentation waste in put into maturation on a special plateform for two weeks.

After five weeks of compost and maturation, the final product is a high quality material with a rare calcium level thanks to the location with a high consumation of shell fish in the region.

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 Compost

The produced compost has already been labelled with the “European Ecolabel”, and should be soon certified for organic cultivation. In 2015, 3 502 tons of compost were produced and commercialised. The service provider is in charge of the commercialisation through the intervention of the Triskalia Cooperative. It remains a local distribution, within 20km around the site, offering quality product to local farmers, city gardening services and private individuals.

Finance

When the project started, the need for infrastructure was significant. Everything had to be built: the treatment unit, the sorting center, the equipments for the inhabitants (buckets and bins) and a new conception for the collection rounds for a total investment of 50 million euros. The global annual cost per year was around 21 million euros in 2012 with a cost of 105 euros/user/year.

In 2014, with the arrival of Plouay community, the annual operating costs went up to 26 million, and 27 million in 2015. These expenses were compensated by generated receits of 25 million in 2014 and balanced in 2015 with more than 27 million. The generated receits are composed of the annual charge per inhabitant and professionals, sails, subventions and “other”.

Extensions of the project

Alongside the project, initiatives around waste management grew on the territory and enabled the development of new actions supporting a new vision of sustainability

• Promotion of self composting and natural gardening • Natural gardening chart • Promotion of collective composting • Animations • Actions for children sensibilisation • Participation to the European week of waste reduction for the 6 th year in a row (20 to 28th of novemeber) • Zero Waste Territory: Lorient Agglomeration has been selected following the call for the national project “Zero % waste territory, zero wastage” launched by the ADEME and the French Ministry of Environment.

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 Opinion

As a complete local initiative with concrete environmental issues through minimising the impact of pollution on the environment, social through employment and an environemental action offered to citizens, and economical through the creation of a responsible market, the city conglomeration provides a solution to a global concern matching the goals of combined United Nations and Europe in terms of environmental, social, and economical orientations.

Shown that a local initiative can diminish the effect of environmental waste on coastal areas

Still, some limits can be found, of the waste being comprised from 60 % to 80% water, should we look at ways of treating it at source before transportation to treatment plants, therefore further reducing the carbon footprint.

But in the end, this is a proven model that can be used as an example of starting point for some cities around the world.

This project shows how sustainability depends on the citizens' will and paricipation to a recycling circle that benefits the wellness of a community.

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017 Sources : www.unep.org www.developpement-durable.gouv.fr https://www.lorient-agglo.fr/La-gestion-des-dechets.1160.0.html http://data.worldbank.org https://waste-management-world.com http://www.sciencedirect.com http://www.atlas.d-waste.com http://www.theatlantic.com https://books.google.fr/books?id=iI7cBQAAQBAJ&lpg=PT20&dq=waste%20management%20strategies&lr&hl=fr&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=waste %20management%20strategies&f=false

Pauline Pillet – English study - 2017