Glossary and abbreviations

The value attributed at a given instant by the stock exchange to a company. It is obtained by multiplying the number of shares issued and outstanding by the price per share.

The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, known as the Marpol Convention, was adopted on November 2, 1973 by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London and has been signed by 130 Member States. The Convention, which came into force in 1983, aims to guarantee the safety of shipping and the prevention of pollution by oils, chemicals, harmful substances transported in bulk or packaged form, wastewater and waste. The Marpol Convention includes safety regulations that shipowners must observe, defines what constitutes a violation and the methods for curbing violations.

Operation consisting of collecting and/or sorting waste with a view to recycling the goods and materials it contains.

Veolia Environmental Services is increasing the number of mechanized sorting centers to make selective sorting more efficient and improve working conditions. Each center can treat a minimum of 15,000 metric tons of waste a year, this volume being the threshold needed for cost-effective industrialization of operations.
The centers also help to improve the quality of secondary raw materials supplied to users.

French Ministry for the Environment and Sustainable Development

Medical waste is generated by hospitals and healthcare professionals. It includes syringes, needles and other sharp instruments. Under no circumstances can these be put in conventional waste bins. Medical waste must be disposed of in compliance with national regulations.

A gas that helps create the greenhouse effect (see Biogas and Greenhouse gas).

A natural method for treating organic waste. It leads to the production of gas (biogas) that can be converted into energy. The gas comes from the biological decomposition of organic matter in an air-deprived environment (known as "anaerobic digestion" because it is without oxygen). A digestate ("digested" waste) is also produced and can be used raw or after treatment (dewatering and composting, sanitization) as a compost.
Organic waste, which has a high water content and is highly biodegradable, is used primarily for methane production. Organic waste includes putrescible household waste, wastewater treatment plant sludge, oil, grease and night soil, some agrifood industry waste and some agricultural waste.
The example of the Varennes-Jarcy plant, France: Veolia Environmental Services has been operating the Varennes-Jarcy methane production plant since 2002. Located near Paris, the plant has the capacity to treat 100,000 metric tons of waste a year. The gas is recovered to produce the electricity needed to operate the plant, any surplus being sold to EDF, the French electricity utility. The digestate is treated and recycled as compost.

Materials Recovery Facility

Household and other waste collected by municipalities. Its great diversity, and the leeway left to municipalities to collect or not certain types of waste, explains the lack of comprehensive figures in this area.

The residue from the treatment of municipal waste incineration flue gases is a solid residue collected after chemically treating flue gas to reduce pollution. The treatment is based on neutralization combined with filtration. The target pollutants are acid gases and particulate matter, plus heavy metals, nitrogen oxides and dioxins, which are treated by supplementary processes. The neutralizing reagents can be injected dry in the form of powder (lime or sodium bicarbonate), by semi-wet means (pulverized milk of lime), or by wet means in a soda washing column. These processes generate residual products, mainly comprised of fly ash. Flue gas treatment residue is stabilized before being stored in authorized landfills. These processes are used to treat over 98% of municipal waste incineration flue gas.

Megawatt hour

Municipal Waste Incineration Plant