Given their extensive international operations, VINCI Concessions companies must find solutions to help reduce waste in landfills. VINCI Concessions has thus set a target of zero waste to landfill by 2030, by focusing on the following actions:
–reducing waste at the source;
–implementing more efficient sorting and collection solutions;
–identifying local waste recycling networks;
–increasing the share of material recovery compared to energy recovery.
This poses a particularly significant challenge in countries with underdeveloped waste recovery systems. Salvador Bahia airport in Brazil and Belgrade airport in Serbia as well as the airports in Faro (Portugal), Phnom Penh (Cambodia) and Manaus (Brazil) have already installed their own sorting centres. This new process prevents waste from the terminal, offices, cargo activities and dining areas from systematically going to landfill. A partner company recycles any waste that can be recycled, while the rest is sent for incineration. As a result, recycling rates in 2023 were 21% at Manaus and 28% at Salvador Bahia compared with an average recycling rate of 3% in Brazil. At Faro, the recycling rate rose from 25% in 2021 to more than 50% in 2023. VINCI Airports thus increased its waste recovery rate to 71% across all of its activities. Local partnerships are also being developed to recover waste. For example, the three airports in Cambodia have forged a new partnership with EcoBatt to collect waste electronics and batteries.
Airports are also working with some airlines on developing a cabin waste sorting policy during flights. In 2023, VINCI Airports joined KLM’s push to change EU regulations that require the aviation sector to incinerate all waste from international flights coming in from outside the European Union. For health reasons, current international regulations strictly require specific disposal methods, such as incineration (preferred) or sterilisation before sending waste to landfill. That means that a large amount of waste is not recovered. The aim is therefore to separate any plastics, cardboard and other materials (water bottles, cups, cans, cardboard, magazines, etc.) at source that have not been in contact with food of animal origin. The airport then separates this cabin waste into two separate containers to recover recyclables. Nantes Atlantique, Lyon Saint Exupéry and London Gatwick airports were the first to trial this solution with easyJet. In Lyon, 28 tonnes of the airline’s waste have been collected since 1 January 2023 and 100% has been recycled. Targets set for 2024 aim to improve performance and extend this project to the entire VINCI Airports network.
To gain support from its value chain in working towards its target of zero waste to landfill by 2030, VINCI Airports is drafting clauses requiring airport subcontractors and service providers to comply with Group policy. This measure was tested at Santiago airport in Chile and at the continental airports in Portugal, with additional trials under way in France and Brazil.
Concession companies also lead campaigns to raise user awareness. In partnership with the Costa Rica Tourism Board, Guanacaste airport launched the “Be a Shell Hero” campaign to encourage tourists to pick up litter on beaches instead of seashells and reduce the 1 tonne of seashells seizures at the airport every year. At Phnom Penh airport, work is in progress with the company in charge of around 80% of the airport’s dining services to improve communication on passenger waste sorting. This collaboration has resulted in a new waste bin prototype, which is currently being tested, as well as engagement and awareness initiatives with food service companies. In France, the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation ran an anti littering campaign urging users to stop throwing rubbish out of their car windows and conducted its fifth #StopMégots campaign with Entente pour la Forêt Méditerrannéenne (Entente Valabre) to get people to stop throwing cigarette butts out of car windows. On average, 100 cigarette butts are discarded in this way every day per kilometre in each direction of traffic. Initiatives on a more local level are also organised. For example, the non profit organisation Aremacs held waste sorting awareness events at the Cambarette service area on the A8 motorway during the summer of 2023, familiarising 200 users with the issues involved.
18 sites with zero waste to landfill for VINCI Concessionsin 2023
• Waste reduction and recovery at the Energy and Construction businesses
VINCI Energies has pledged to recover 80% of its inert waste and materials and the Major Projects Division of VINCI Construction has pledged to recover 90% of all its waste, both by 2030. At 31 December 2023, the Major Projects Division’s waste recovery rate was 92% (excluding inert waste and materials). Some entities set precise goals, including the Civil Engineering France Division of VINCI Construction, which has set a target in its framework document to reach a recycling rate of 80% at all its worksites by 2030. At 31 December 2023, the Civil Engineering France Division had recovered 82% of its waste (including inert materials and waste), while VINCI Constructions’ United Kingdom Division achieved a rate of 97%. On a more local scale, the Greater Paris New Build Housing and Greater Paris Renovated Housing delegations (Building France Division, VINCI Construction) have also developed an overall waste reduction policy, promoting actions in the field, such as signs made from stone paper at worksites and a virtual catalogue of housing units.
These commitments were translated into concrete actions in 2023. For example, the Building France Division built an office building meeting high environmental performance standards at Saint-Rambert-d’Albon in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, where 93% of worksite waste was recycled. On the project to renovate Yuri Gagarin stadium in Le Havre, VINCI Construction worked with a specialised company to recover the old synthetic turf and reused almost all of the 10,000 tonnes of excavated soil on site. Spiecapag (VINCI Construction) also donated scrap metal as part of a project to create works of art depicting various sports for the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Outside France, as part of the Antamina injection project in Peru, Soletanche Bachy recycled the excess slurry to make bricks that meet the technical standards for use as supports in building cut-off walls. These bricks were offered to the local population.
