Faced with the profound changes in its territory, Plaine Commune decided in 2017 to launch an ambitious project called "Urban Metabolism "*. Its objective: to experiment with a circular economy approach on building sites, in order to prove that dense urban development is compatible with a reasoned management of resources, by capitalising on its "urban mine" to renew and build itself, and by promoting the deployment of new channels for the recovery of building materials.
With this charter, and in the presence of Mathieu Hanotin, President of Plaine Commune, Laurent Monnet, Territorial Councillor in charge of the circular economy, Frédéric Cartier, Director of Real Estate Ile-de-France at Eiffage Immobilier, Sofiane Chikh, Director of Development at Eiffage Aménagement, we are committed to promoting the following objectives
1. Integrate the circular economy into all projects
In order to ensure that the "circular economy loop" is properly closed, actions must be carried out simultaneously on demolition and renovation sites - in order to ensure the quality of the deposit of recovered materials - and on those linked to new constructions - in order to create outlets for recovered materials. An essential condition for the successful implementation of these approaches is anticipation: it will therefore be necessary to include these issues from the project design phase.
2. Use the tools put in place by the local authority and its partners to ensure the deployment of the approach
There are three types of tools: training, to ensure that the teams have the necessary skills; digital tools to "change scale"; and the provision of vacant land to enable the establishment of "circular economy" activities in the area.
3. Establish a regular follow-up of the actions carried out
In a context of increasing scarcity of resources and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, the subject of the circular economy is becoming a priority for the legislator. The obligations of project owners are therefore increasingly important on the subject, and as such, Plaine Commune and all of its project owner partners have been obliged since 2020 to recover at least 70% of construction site waste, and to carry out actions to prevent the creation of waste (thanks to the reuse of materials for example).
It will therefore be a matter of jointly ensuring that the actions carried out make it possible to achieve the objectives set, thanks to the presentation of regular reports on the performance achieved in terms of the circular economy, throughout the projects.
For its part, Plaine Commune undertakes to facilitate the implementation of this charter by :
- providing technical support to the partners;
- deploying actions that allow all project owners to become acculturated to the subject of the circular economy;
- promoting the approach among other partners in the area, in order to create a "circular economy culture" in Plaine Commune;
- supporting the deployment of local re-use/recycling channels, and making visible the solutions that already exist;
- simplifying the meeting of supply and demand for materials from reuse and recycling.
By signing this charter, our businesses share Plaine Commune's vision of putting the circular economy at the heart of its projects, and perfectly illustrate the ambitious environmental approach of the Eiffage Group.
Congratulations to the teams for this great commitment!