SXMElections.com

MARIGOT--A presentation of a new 450,000-euro car recycling station was made Thursday, at the eco-landfill site in Grande Cayes where demonstrations were given of stripping down and de-polluting car wrecks with special equipment for parts that can be recycled.

Previously the landfill had no facility to deconstruct a car wreck from start to finish for recycling. In the past car wrecks were only crushed by independent contractors and shipped off-island.

The deconstruction process has now been made possible by the company Indra SAS Re-source Engineering Solutions, a pioneer in automobile recycling, which partners with car manufacturers Renault, Nissan etc.

Ten million cars reach the end of their lives in Europe and the new European Union (EU) target as of January, 2016, is 95 per cent of the car to be recycled, up from presently 82-85 per cent.

Managing Director of Verde SXM Patrick Villemin, the company that manages the landfill introduced the President of Indra SAS, Olivier Guadeau, who gave an overview of how “end of life vehicle” (ELV) centres operate; the company has 400 of them.

Inside the hangar, there are two independent work stations with special equipment, one to de-pollute the vehicle of oils and fuels, batteries and other hazardous waste, and the other station to remove the engine, transmission or other parts of the car that are difficult to remove. A hydraulic cutter similar to what firemen use at accidents helps to facilitate this task. All parts that can be recycled are retained.

The facility was built two months ago for Verde SXM, which is supported by Indra for the technical aspects.

“The installation has been designed to process about 1,000 cars per year, which is what we estimate will be produced on the French side,” Villemin explained. “The only problem at the moment is the collection of car wrecks, but vehicle recycling was the only element missing here at the landfill.”

He added some parts can be recycled and sold in the local vehicle market and other materials such as plastics and aluminium sold to recycler companies in Europe to make new products. A Dutch-side dealer is currently taking the scrap metal. Oils will be sold to France to be recycled to make new oil.

First Vice President Guillaume Arnell, who is in charge of sustainable development, in his laudatory remarks noted the facility is a major step forward into having a cleaner environment.

“Abandon cars are an eyesore and a more agreeable environment is essential for our tourism industry, but we are ourselves are the first visitors in our territory,” he said. “If we can have pride in our own environment the better we can sell it to tourists.”

The Agence de L’Environment et de la Maitrise de l’Energie (ADEME) representative, Regional Director Catherine Luciani, said the facility “has been perfectly adapted for the needs of St. Martin.”

Financing for the facility was provided by Verde SXM (55 per cent) and partly by government agency ADEME and European funds FEDER. According to Villemin the Collectivité did not contribute to the investment, but will be paying for the treatment of the cars when they are received at the facility.

General Manager of the landfill Jean-Pierre Tey introduced by name the 18 employees who work at the landfill, including the manager of the car recycling facility Philippe Lepage.