Waga Energy and Veolia cut the ribbon on a WAGABOX® unit at the waste-management leader’s Saint-Palais, France landfill on December 7, 2018. The unit — the fourth WAGABOX® in France and the first at a Veolia waste-treatment facility — was commissioned on November 6, 2018. It now supplies 3,000 households in Saint-Palais and surrounding communities with biomethane, while eliminating 4,000 tons of potential CO2 emissions per year.
The ribbon was cut by Bernard Harambillet, VP Waste Recycling & Transformation, Veolia France, at a ceremony attended by French energy agency ADEME’s Chairman Arnaud Leroy. Some 150 visitors took advantage of the event to tour the facility.
Left to right: Mathieu Lefebvre, CEO Waga Energy, Bernard Harambillet, VP Waste Recycling & Transformation, Veolia France, Karine Vernier, Manager of the Energy and Circular Economy program, SGPI, Arnaud Leroy, ADEME’s Chairman, and Aymar de Germay, President SDE38.
Bernard Harambillet, VP Waste Recycling & Transformation, Veolia France, said, “One of Veolia’s missions is to transform waste into resources — either recycled raw materials or energy. The partnership with Waga Energy is a perfect example. Industrial and household waste is transformed into biogas, which can then be used instead of natural gas to provide energy to 3,000 homes near the site. This really illustrates how the circular economy works. It also avoids 4,000 tons of CO2 emissions each year.”