• Every year, the Mirail incinerator in Toulouse treats 285,000 tons of waste but now shows signs of dilapidation.
  • After a public consultation to study the question of its future, its manager, the Decoset union, has just announced that it would be rebuilt, not renovated, probably on site.
  • Faced with criticism from environmental associations and local residents, Decoset announced that the incineration capacity of the future incinerator would be slightly reduced from 280,000 tons to 240,000 tons.

It has been designated by the Zero Waste association as the "most polluting incinerator in France" for its nitrogen oxide emissions recorded in 2020. The Mirail waste recovery unit in Toulouse was opened in 1969 and treats nearly 285,000 tons of waste each year, which produces heat to supply nearly 40,000 homes. But it is now reaching the end of its life.

An obsolescence that will lead to upgrading work over the next few years for an amount of 46 million euros. But not enough to reverse a planned shutdown in about ten years. After a public consultation to decide on its future at the end of last year, its manager, the Decoset union, decided that it would be rebuilt rather than renovated from top to bottom.

"And our preference is that it be rebuilt on site, we have the land to do it while maintaining the current unity during the work. But as part of the public inquiry, we are also required to justify our choice and study other locations," says Vincent Terrail Novés, president of the union that also manages the Bessières incinerator. For the time being, the candidates to host a new incineration unit are not legion, there are not even any in the agglomeration ready to risk alienating its population with such a project.

The capacity of the future incinerator reviewed and corrected

A project revised and slightly corrected in the light of the criticisms made by environmental and local associations. The latter pointed out in particular that the Mirail incinerator did not have to treat waste from neighboring departments, including Hautes-Pyrénées or Gers. Zero Waste also highlighted that the waste reduction policy, including the obligation from next year to offer an alternative solution to the treatment of biowaste, should significantly reduce the tonnage incinerated each year.



Taking into account the demographic increase, Decoset has therefore revised the calibration of the future incinerator downwards, from the 280,000 tons initially envisaged to 240,000, "a minimum not to endanger the waste management of our territory," says Vincent Terrail-Novès. Before specifying that if the reduction of waste was greater than expected by 2032, date of commissioning of the new unit, it would be taken into account to reduce the capacity of the incinerator of Bessières, which at that time will also reach the end of its life.

This decrease of 40,000 tonnes processed for the future recovery unit had an impact on the project's bill since its budget increased from 350 to 300 million euros. A project that will be presented on March 14 to the National Commission for Public Debate and should be submitted in 2026 to the public inquiry, for a start of work the following year.

  • Planet
  • Toulouse
  • Occitania
  • Mirail
  • Rubbish
  • Garbage
  • Pollution
  • Recycling