What do asphalt millings, construction materials and household waste have in common? They all contain mineral resources that can be sorted and recycled!

18 4th-year Geosciences and Environment engineering students were able to discover the recycling, recovery and value-addition of mineral resources sector during two company visits organized as part of the "Characterization of primary and secondary mineral resources" minor.

The Grandvilliers site of ENROBÉS PLUS and NEWROAD, subsidiaries of the Lhotellier group and model players in the recycling sector, was the focus of a visit that focused on the collection, processing and recovery of materials from road deconstruction to create new road projects, and the recovery of other deconstruction materials such as concrete to offer a range of low-carbon materials. The visit gave the students an insight into the circular economy approach adopted by the Lhotellier Group, with its range of multi-recyclable products.

The visit was also an opportunity to train the future engineers in sampling techniques on a stock specially prepared for them by Lhotellier.

The engineering students then visited the sorting and energy recovery site of the Syndicat Mixte du Département de l'Oise, located in Villers-Saint-Paul. This site, operated by Paprec and Idex, collects and processes mainly metal, paper, cardboard and plastic packaging, which contains a significant proportion of mineral resources (limestone, kaolin, pigments, etc.).

Here, they learned about the various methods used to sort packaging (eddy current, magnetic separation or optical sorting), which are similar to those used in ore processing.

This last visit also provided an opportunity to discuss the issue of energy. SMDO's Villers-Saint-Paul site has an energy recovery center that produces :

• Industrial steam for a nearby chemical platform;
• Electricity for its own operations;
• Domestic hot water;
• Heat injected into the district heating network, which currently supplies 2,700 homes in Nogent, with a planned extension to 13,500 homes by 2025.

A day rich in lessons that enabled future Geosciences and Environment engineers to discover various circular economy approaches linked to mineral resources. Two visits that fit in perfectly with European Waste Reduction Week.

UniLaSalle warmly thanks the Lhotellier group and the SMDO for their hospitality, as well as the Geosciences college team, who organized these two visits.