Water, land, aggregates, rocks, stones... faced with finite and increasingly expensive natural resources, it is urgent that we take care of them, limit their use, minimise waste, and favour, whenever possible, local production and reuse.
At APRR, we strive to shift from a linear economic model to a circular model in order to reduce pressure on resources. To do this, we encourage sustainable construction and we are part of the government’s “Avoid, Reduce, Offset” approach. Territory by territory, site by site and area by area, we are systematically implementing the reuse, pooling, minimisation and recycling of waste.
Building sustainably
We minimise the physical footprint of our construction projects to balance the volumes of debris and backfill and to keep works sites self-sufficient. Motorways can provide resources for their own development, such as using shredded wood from the embankments to mulch new plantings.
We favour re-use and recycling in purchasing policy to avoid the use of natural raw materials. We recycle crushed concrete and reuse aggregates for renovation projects.
Our purchasing focuses as much as possible on local supplies of materials and avoids the use of natural raw materials. For example we use tailings for landscaping and recycled glass to make light embankments that do not impact the surrounding environment. To secure our worksites and operations, we buy cones made from partially recycled plastic.
APRR uses green chemistry solutions developed by Eiffage. The Group has developed a binder from the Landes forestry and paper industries. This binder, called Biophalt®, was tested over 2 km of the A40 (Ain) and won the Grand Prize at the 2022 FNTP Awards.
Reducing our reliance on water resources
Our policy for preserving water resources is based on controlling consumption, preventing pollution, standardising best practices and developing innovative solutions across all our motorway networks.
To optimise water management, we have set up a network for transferring water from drainage basins to waterways. This network collects all the water from the motorway platform in multi-purpose basins, where it is specifically treated. On a daily basis, we reduce consumption, water recycling and pollution at our construction sites. We are also equipped to deal with spill pollution risks, and we clean up our facilities ourselves.
APPR has set to limit its consumption of drinking water to 225 m3/m€ in 2022. Its ambition is to reduce it by 10% over the 2018-2025 period. We are deploying smart meters across the network to manage data and alert systems to implement corrective measures if necessary. In a growing number of service areas, such as in Jugy (A6), the toilets are equipped with sensors to instantly detect leaks and to adapt the flow rates of flushes and taps.
Managing waste
We manage the waste of motorway users on and around the motorway with 516 recycling points in the motorway rest areas and 1,000 tonnes of litter collected on the roads each year. Over the same period, we collect and sort 10,000 tonnes of waste, 34% of which is used for energy production and 7% of which is recycled. Our strategy aims to improve the performance of waste collection and tracking and to promote partnerships with local players in short supply chains (purchasing, collection and processing). Our objective is to achieve a 65% reduction in our waste by 2025.
