The background

So far yet so near. Despite their distance from the European continent, Guadeloupe, French Guiana, Martinique, Mayotte, Reunion Island and Saint-Martin (France), the Azores and Madeira (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain) are all part of the European Union.

In a social and inclusive European Union that pledges to leave no one behind, the gaps between the European Union’s outermost regions and the rest of the European continent must be narrowed. These regions are eligible for EU funding and can benefit from tailor-made EU solutions that adapt European regulations to their local needs and interests.

In 2019, France declared its intention of progressing towards “zero waste” in its overseas territories[1] and the European Union is helping to turn this goal into a reality. Located in the Caribbean and 7 000 km from Paris, Martinique needs waste management solutions adapted to its local issues, remoteness, small size and insularity.

The challenge

Martinique is relatively well equipped in terms of waste treatment facilities. In 2015, 100% of its inhabitants had access to selective waste collection, and door-to-door collection of bio-waste was available for some. Yet Martinique is struggling to reach its recycling and recovery targets due to the population’s insufficient participation in the island’s selective waste collection system and the high costs of sorting because of low quantities of recyclables.

Martinique’s insularity and location make waste management more difficult than in continental Europe. On-site treatment is a must, given the island’s remoteness from national and EU territory. The cost of transferring waste to metropolitan France would be prohibitive. Solutions with neighbouring independent territories, which are not part of the European Union, would be complex to set up due to regulatory differences.

The action

The main purpose of the project is to build a complex of three non-hazardous waste management facilities for improving Martinique’s environmental performance and helping to achieve the objectives of the local Plan for Waste Management and Reduction. The project site is located in the Le Robert municipality in an area named Petit Galion. Located in former agricultural and quarry areas, the site covers a total area of about 16 ha.

The three centres are intended for three different problems:

  1. A sorting centre for bulky and commercial waste with a capacity of 20 000 tonnes of waste per year, which is nearly 10% of the annual production of household waste in Martinique and the equivalent of more than 3 000 times the weight of Michelangelo’s David. This sorting centre will enable Martinique to increase its rate of waste recycling.
  2. A mechanical biological pre-treatment unit to extract fermentable waste which is then treated in the organic recovery centre. The recovery centre will produce electricity that can be sold. To maximise the quality of biodegradable material at the recovery centre, the pre-treatment unit will also receive waste from the agricultural sector or rural areas.  
  3. A non-hazardous waste facility located in a quarry called Petit Galion, 300 metres from the organic recovery centre. The landfill meets the maximum requirements for environmental protection and prevention of groundwater and soil pollution risk. Its design took into account the natural hazards that occur in Martinique, including hurricanes and earthquakes. For this reason, it increased its capacity by 50% (compared to what is typically necessary for the disposal of residual waste) to enable it to receive waste even in extreme weather events. The extra capacity will also ensure that any deficiencies in the organic recovery centre can be remedied.

The sorting and recovery of the Petit Galion complex are:

@Silvia Fraguas/JASPERS

JASPERS worked with the project beneficiary, Syndicat Martiniquais de Traitement et de Valorisation des Déchets, to improve the project documentation in line with the requirements for EU funding. In particular, JASPERS advised them to modify the capacity of the waste management facilities to align it fully with Martinique’s waste management plan. 

The quality of the application form and the cost-benefit analysis model – in particular the financial and economic analysis aspects – improved steadily thanks to the input of Syndicat Martiniquais de Traitement et de Valorisation des Déchets in response to JASPERS’ comments.

The results

The project has two main benefits. First, the waste facilities produce electricity, contributing to the island’s energy independence. Second, it reduces the pollution caused by waste, contributing to a greener and bluer island. Martinique, surrounded as it is by the Atlantic Ocean, can play a major role in blue growth and this project, which helps reduce the waste discharged into the ocean, contributes to this.

The waste facilities exceed by one-third the capacity target for waste recycling/recovery as specified in Martinique’s waste management plan. Moreover, the project reduces annual greenhouse gas emissions by more than 3 500 t CO2eq. 

The new waste facilities create jobs for the local communities, especially in the building and public works sector. Construction contracts include a social integration clause, which requires the hiring of unemployed people and/or people with social or professional difficulties. Moreover, indirect jobs are generated, for instance to transport materials.

[1] https://ec.europa.eu/transparency/regdoc/rep/1/2020/EN/COM-2020-104-F1-EN-MAIN-PART-1.PDF 

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