Waste treatment: Symbiose project abandoned, Government banks on new energy recovery facility
The waste processing plant is to be demolished and rebuilt as a waste-to-energy facility © Prince's Government - Facebook
The Principality has confirmed the construction of a new waste treatment facility in Fontvieille.
The Prince’s Government has decided to keep Monaco’s waste treatment in the country. In a press release, the executive explains that the decision follows a legal opinion commissioned from a specialist in European law, which highlighted the significant risks involved in exporting waste to France or Italy in its entirety. This option had been considered after the Symbiose project was abandoned, a waste treatment centre on the Charles-III site, with an estimated cost of over €650 million. The authorities acknowledge that the initial ambitious plan “did not meet all the conditions necessary for its implementation,” thus putting an end to the project for good.
An energy recovery system
The government’s strategy is now to demolish the existing Fontvieille plant, built in 1980, then rebuild a new “Energy Recovery Unit” on the same site. The facility will meet the needs expressed by public operators SMA, SMEG and SMEAUX, enabling “Monaco’s waste to be transformed into heat, cold and electricity,” while including “a sewage sludge treatment system,” according to the government press release.
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The National Council’s reaction
The National Council, which had put the issue on the agenda at a meeting at the end of May, was quick to react. In a press release, Chairman Thomas Brezzo criticised “inappropriate communication by the Government” concerning the decision to stop the Symbiose project: “For several years, the Government considered that the Symbiose project was the only feasible solution,” and “the implementation of a project on the current site was presented, until now, as being impossible.” The national councillors also stress a lack of transparency: “we won’t be able to include rebuilding the facility in the budget until we have all the information.”
With just a few weeks to go before the arrival of the new Minister of State, the President of the Conseil National now hopes to “enter into calm discussions with Mr Mirmand” to “renew our institutional partnership.”