In Hong Kong, MARPOL waste from ocean-going vessels is delivered to a chemical waste treatment site where Veolia Environmental Services treats and processes it into refuse-derived fuel.
In the United Kingdom, cruise liners, merchant ships and aircraft carriers berthing in the Solent are met by Veolia’s 176-ton ship, the Douglas McWilliam, which pumps out slops and collects all types of waste, whether general on-board and medical waste, scrap metal, lead batteries and hydrocarbon liquid waste.
In France, Veolia has established a collection service from electricians, using a specific recovery kit so as to recycle end-of-life fluorescent tubes. Following specific treatment, the various components are reused as secondary raw materials, e.g. aluminium, fluorescent powders, iron and glass.
Veolia has developed a process to recover phenol-laden spent foundry sand for the BRGM (French Geological Survey) and Antéa. Veolia Environmental Services created a process in Chaingy, France, where the foundry sand is first grinded so as to remove the ferrous and non-ferrous content and then mixed with bacteria that feed off the phenol. It can then be reused in road base layers or as backfill.
The CREED research centre is testing and developing a solution that will incorporate glass recovered from TV cathode ray tubes into concrete. In partnership with manufacturers, it is involved in research on the dismantling and recycling of plasma screens. The University of Metz in conjunction with CREED has patented a process for the selective recovery of two metals from the industrial wastewater of chemical plants. Recovered in the form of 95-97% pure hydroxide, it is then sold to a metallurgical company.