In Toulouse, the Mirail incinerator pointed to as “the most polluting in France”
By qualifying the Toulouse incinerator as “the most polluting in France” in terms of nitrogen oxide emissions, with 322 tonnes in 2020, or “as much as the three largest French incinerators combined”, the NGO Zero Waste Toulouse has focused attention on this industrial tool dating from 1968. With 156 mg/Nm3, it is, by far, the one with the highest average concentration of nitrogen oxides in 2020, ahead of Fos-sur- Sea (61 mg/Nm3), according to the report published on September 12.
The mayor of Toulouse Jean-Luc Moudenc, who denounces “errors” in this study, ensures that the prefectural decree is fully respected, “below the authorized values”.
A forthcoming consultation on the future of the site
Located in the Mirail district, close to homes and schools, the incinerator supplies 40,000 homes with heating and hot water. A use that should not mask the pollution generated for the inhabitants of this area, believes François Piquemal, LFI-Nupes deputy for Haute-Garonne. “On request to people to heat themselves or breathe quality air. »
A consultation around its future, its renovation or its reconstruction on site or on another site, will be held from September 20 to November 27. A reconstruction, the cost of which is estimated at 350 million euros, will bring in an additional 45 million planned for the upgrading of the current tool by 2024.
While this pollution is added to that of the nearby ring road, we must take advantage of it to rethink the waste management policy, also believes the EELV-Nupes deputy Christine Arrighi. For her and François Piquemal, by reducing the production of waste, we could have a smaller and more efficient industrial tool in the treatment of waste.