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Romainville, the first town in the greater Paris area to implement a pneumatic waste collection system - 02/20/2012

On 24 January, the Paris area branch office of the ASTEE (scientific and technical association for water and the environment) organised a visit of the pneumatic waste collection system in Romainville, the first town in the greater Paris area to use this type of waste collection system. Girus took part in this visit.

The project is part of an approach outlined by the ANRU (national urban redevelopment agency) and launched in 2008 by the town of Romainville and its partners, neighbouring towns Les Lilas and Bagnolet. The DBO contract was awarded to Véolia Propreté and its co-contractor ENVAC. The works started in 2010 and the full network is set to be unveiled in September 2013.

The first neighbourhood network in Romainville (2,800 dwellings) was commissioned in October 2011, and a further 1,600 dwellings in Les Lilas will soon be connected. 98% of concerned dwellings consist of social housing (a political choice). Four kilometres of pipes were buried on average 2 m below ground level. The inlets that have been made available for the 2,800 dwellings are emptied automatically two to three times a day and its takes approximately 45 minutes for all the inlets to be emptied.

The contents of the inlets (residual household waste and selective waste) are transported by two turbo-compressors each having a suction power equivalent to 1,000 standard vacuum-cleaners. The waste is then compacted in selective containers and sent to the residual household waste incineration plant or the sorting centre.

Operational costs are estimated at €120 to 130/t and tenants’ charges are reduced by approx. €100-120/dwelling/year. The total investment of the project amounts to €13 million, including €8.3 million paid by the town of Romainville, where the collection terminal is located. The departmental and regional councils, the ADEME, the State and the FEDER provided €5 million in subsidies.

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