SYBERT

Created in 1999, the SYBERT is the local authority in charge of waste treatment for 3 grouped councils within the agglomeration of Besançon, France. It has a population of 225 000 inhabitants and covers 1300 km². The 3 councils have retained their responsibility for waste collection and “pay as you throw” payment and they have entrusted the treatment part to the SYBERT. To do this, it has various facilities:

• 300 collective composting facilities;
• 16 household waste recycling centres;
• a waste sorting centre;
• a bulky waste sorting centre;
• an incineration plant with energy recovery;

Christine Sautenet, Director of the SYBERT, gives us more information on its activities regarding sustainable resource management.

ACR+: What are the main challenges on your territory in the field of sustainable resource management?

C.S.: The global politic of the SYBERT is to give priority to the reduction of household waste. In 2016, the weight of household waste was of 150 kg/year/inhabitant. The aim is to reach 100 kg/year/inhabitant in 2020.

Thus, the main challenges for the SYBERT are linked to sustainable resource supply; in particular we are working on improving the quality of sorting habits in order to obtain good quality materials for sorting centres and increasing the quantity of sorted waste.
 

ACR+: Last year the SYBERT started a new waste prevention plan. Could you tell us more about the key actions that you will implement?

C.S.: Following the implementation of a first Local Prevention Plan from 2010 to 2015, a second plan has indeed been launched in 2016 for 4 years. It is built around 4 main themes: food waste, toxic reduction, local management of bio-waste and reusable nappies.

Accordingly, the SYBERT is offering to local actors concrete solutions: the so-called “gourmet bag” (a French version of the doggy bag) for restaurant, a competition inviting school to collect used batteries, promotion and support actions for composting, the possibility for parents to rent reusable nappies kits as well as some measures to accompany nurseries, etc.

The SYBERT has also received the “Zero Waste Territory” label. Awarded in 2017 by the Ministry of Ecological and Solidarity Transition for three years, this label recognizes and supports the most ambitious public authorities regarding waste prevention and management, in a circular economy approach, while contributing to local jobs. In practice it means for us to reduce waste production, give a second life to products and recycle whenever possible.

ACR+: Within ACR+ network, the SYBERT is famous for a successful project seeking alternatives to not renew the old incineration furnaces of the territory and set up a waste incentive bill on the SYBERT area. This project ended in 2016. Can you already draw some conclusions?

C.S.: I imagine that you are talking about the European project “Waste on a Diet”, supported by the LIFE programme, which ended in June 2016 after 4 years of activities. This project gave us the opportunity to realise lots of different actions to reduce waste, aiming to reach three objectives by 2016:

• Reducing by 25% the weight of residual household waste, that is going from 217 kg/year/capita in 2009 to 150 kg at the end of the project. We successfully reached this target since in 2016 the bin for residual household waste weighted 150kg per year per resident.
• Increasing material recovery (recycling and composting) to reach 55% of recycling, so an increase of 17 points (38% in 2009). Our material recovery rate is now of 55%, so we also reached this target.
• Controlling costs, which means limiting the raise of the fee charged to citizens and remaining below € 90 per capita. This third target, as the two previous ones, was completed with success: in 2016 the fee costs around € 70/year /capita.

It is thus easy to say that this project was indeed a success and we are looking forward to continuing the started actions, especially through the second Local Prevention Plan and the label Zero Waste Territory. If you are interest, the actions that we implemented to achieve these objectives are described on the Waste on a Diet page on our website, so don’t hesitate to go there to have an idea, for example, of how we developed 300 local collective composting facilities.

To discover more about the Municipality of Lisbon you can visit www.sybert.fr or contact Christine Sautenet, Director of the SYBERT, christine.sautenet@sybert.fr.