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Week 6: Water & Waste

Hey, guys, what’s good? Have a good week? Let’s dive right in.

One of trips this week was to 3 separate waste treatment facilities: household garbage, industrial waste, and grey water treatment. The household garbage facility and the grey water treatment are both run by the same entity, Haganis, but each center has different goals. At the center for garbage, their goal is to lessen the impact that garbage has on the environment, to clean it up a little. They try as much as they can to recycle, employing a lot of people to hand sort through the material down conveyor belts. They still practice incineration, but don’t use fossil fuels to fuel the fire; instead, they use organic waste to start and keep the fire burning. As if that wasn’t enough to impress me, they also recycle the ashy material left over from the incineration called “mâchefers”. Most of the ashy materials makeup is metallic, so they run it through a magnetic process; the rest of the material is recycled and becomes roadways or sidewalks. That’s resourceful! I was happy with the amount of times they referenced the environment as reasoning for their actions; it’s one of the pillars of their mission as a waste treatment facility: lessening the environmental impact of our waste.

At the Haganis wastewater treatment plant, we got to see how they go about treating all the grey water from people’s homes that arrives there through a large network of pipes. They have a “separated” system, so used water from sinks in the house or washing machines isn’t transported in the pipes with used water from toilets and showers; this helps them keep a majority of the water at a specific level of contamination, instead of further contaminating all of the water that they process. They use gravity to move the water through the pipes towards the facility, utilizing a pump to move the water up over a hill only when necessary. At Haganis, the water is run through a series of basins that aim to decant solid waste and microorganisms and then treat the water for harmful amounts of certain elements (like phosphorous). The system is similar to one that you’d find in the United States, but Haganis, here, takes it one step further than just treating and returning the water to the river. Once they have the “sludge”, the decanted solid materials or dead microorganisms, they can recycle a portion of it instead of burning it all (which I believe is procedure in the United States). They can take the organic waste from the decanter basins and from the basins that remove microorganisms from the water to farms to be used as fertilizer, and they do this extra step for free, without financial incentive. The rest of the sludge is burned or recycled similarly to the mâchefers. At these Haganis facilities, they’re doing their jobs cleaning up the waste that we produce, but they’re also trying to do everything in the light of their environment and what they can do to reuse the waste or lessen the footprint of their facilities’ treatment processes. Pretty inspiring, honestly.

When we made our way to Schroll in Rambas, the industrial waste treatment facility, we got to see what big businesses did with their trash and the kinds of problems that the particular wastes posed for the facility. Paper, for example, isn’t always made so that it’s completely recyclable. There were giant rolls of paper in huge piles just sitting because they must break down each of the rolls to get out the recyclable parts (the thick cardboard roll and the plastic parts of the spindle), and the rest goes to the incinerator. Plastic packaging, the really thin, transparent plastic that’s often used as an outer layer of protection on packages was in the lot in heaps; the facility takes what they can (some plastic packaging is too fragile to be run through machining or extremely harmful to heat up) and heat it up to mold it into “bricks” that can be bought by other companies as recycled plastic material. They do the same thing with cardboard and plastic containers for milk products (for example). Our tour guide, David Lavielle, was transparent throughout the tour, explaining that their process isn’t perfect and that they don’t have any idea what they’re supposed to do with some of the waste that comes through their facility. When all else fails, burn it, but that’s not their goal. They want to be able to properly process and recycle as much as they can, and at the end of the day, it’s our job to help them achieve that. Pay attention to what you buy and use, the makeup of it, the materials that the business uses to make whatever product and stay away from it if it’s mainly composed of non-recyclable materials. The consumer, us, has all the power over businesses and what they produce. If we weren’t buying products that were wrapped 3 times in some harmful, thin plastic packaging, I think the businesses who were suffering from lack of purchases would be hard-pressed not to switch over to organic cardboard or paper packaging.

On a different note than waste, we had a meeting with some lovely, fellow French students and the president, Marie-Anne Isler Beguin, and vice president, Catherine Godignon, of the European Institute of Ecology this past week. We came to discuss the logistics of a film festival that they’re hosting for the second time ever called “CinaMaTerre”; at the festival, you can watch films from all over the world from 2017 to now that challenge and demonstrate different environmental issues socially, economically, and, of course, ecologically. We’ll be helping them out with a specific segment “Youth4Planet” which is a short video in which we ask French children what they think we should do in order to help the environment. There was a press conference that the Institute held with the local newspapers in order to promote the event; there, Lindsey Lovitt and I were asked to film short responses (in English, Dr. Kozhanova was a little disappointed, so that we could help illustrate the international aspect of the festival) detailing how we felt about the festival, our impressions of what their goals were. Like I said for their video, I’m really inspired by the efforts that people are going to not only to help the environment in general, but also to spread the knowledge and promote awareness of our impact on the planet. The international aspect is important, too, because we live in a global community, truly, even though that’s easy to forget sometimes. We all need to make an effort to change; our movement is only as strong as our weakest member.

Affecting change on a grand scale, like over the entirety of the United States, would be difficult no doubt, but it’d be a lot easier if everyone was trying instead of relying on one entity’s efforts. The change has to start in what you do at home, in what you buy, in what you eat, and in your heart. It’s hard to see a good reason for why you should change sometimes, even just a habit like chewing your fingernails, but seeing other people with pretty fingernails, for example, might persuade you. Be the person who’s doing good for the environment in your area, spread your knowledge and passion to those around you and we can change the world together.

Week 5: Sustainability in Strasbourg

Allo! How was your past week? Weekend? I hope that it was as beautiful and as heartwarming as ours was. I got to see visit a city dedicated to strengthening their networks of sustainable, eco-friendly transport, like on electric trams and bikes, to meet an organization that works year round to compost for the community (all on bikes!), and to meet the Mayor of Metz at the Ecology Festival on Saturday.

In Strasbourg, the streets were beautiful, not all too different in composition from the ones you’d walk down in Metz. There are cafés with tables sprawling out into the terrace, shops with postcard racks out front or with hand woven fabrics hanging over some displays, and musicians on street corners. The architecture, though, is a telling mix of French and German techniques (maybe due to their occupation in a couple of wars). The cathedral was breathtaking, in contrast with the beautiful orangish stone color cathedral in Metz, and with ornate detailing all the way up the grand tower. I’m partial to Metz because the stained glass is legendary, but there was something special about the cathedral in Strasbourg, maybe the views from the base of the tower were what did me in.

Apart from sightseeing, I met Joakim Couchoud from an association in Strasbourg called Sikle that operates much like Metz’s Epluchures and Bicyclettes. Sikle is a larger movement with more frequent pickups (up to 5 times per week) and visits around 16 restaurants/business, approximately ten more than we visit here in Metz. Their composting site is much larger, also, because they pick up much more waste each trip than we do with E&B. The objectives in each sense are the same, though: they aim to reduce the amount of waste generated by people in Strasbourg that goes immediately to a landfill or incinerator. There is potential for their food waste, and they don’t want to waste the opportunity (or the waste, haha). Once E&B gets a few more volunteers, I think they’ll be able to operate at a level like Sikle with no problem whatsoever. They’ve laid good groundwork and have done a lot of good with their small operation so far, I’m just happy to see that Metz isn’t the only diamond in the rough. There are cities all over Europe doing what they’re doing on larger and smaller scales, trying to make a difference in their impact on the environment and on the community. That’s the most successful and inspiring aspect to me. I’m bringing this idea home to Georgia Tech with me; look out for an Epluchures and Bicyclette club on campus in the spring!       

After a brief lunch on a log bench, we made our way to the Department of the Regulation of Traffic in Strasbourg, where we met Benoît Wolff, who explained the innerworkings of the circulation system that manages the traffic lights, public transportation, and monitors public roadways for accidents (as a partnership with the police department). Strasbourg is an extremely bike friendly city (the most notable in France) and the public transportation system, a network of tramways, is also widely known for its effectivity. At the Department of Regulation, there are people working around the clock to ensure that the car traffic blends seamlessly and safely with the tram and pedestrian traffic. I would say bike traffic, as well, but they make a lot of effort to keep the bikes and cars separate. There is a large network of bike paths that Strasbourg dedicates time and money into developing so that bikers don’t need to share the road with cars or share the sidewalk with pedestrians. It makes a switch from driving a car to riding a bike seem that much sweeter, doesn’t it? No pollutants AND safety? Sounds like a dream. Their facilities have been some of the best since the 1970s, and they’re constantly trying to improve the state of mobility in their city both for the environment and the safety of the citizens in Strasbourg. I think the climate strike going on in town added to the experience, as well, because we could see the mob moving from one screen to the next across the intersections with cameras as Benoît was talking. I knew at that moment that Strasbourg was cool with me!

I know I already mentioned this as an introduction to my topics in the blog, but I met the Mayor of Metz, Dominique Gros (third from the left in the first picture below)! He was a strong spoken man who liked to joke, and even though I didn’t fully understand all of what he said, he made the people watching him smile and preached about the importance of the efforts people were making at the Ecology festival and for the environment. What’s not to like? The Ecology festival was held at the European Institute of Ecology, which we visited earlier in the semester to learn about sustainable developments in Metz. This time, we were outside helping at a table for Metz à Vélo, whom you’ve met before. We asked people if they liked to bike, handed out some pamphlets, and talked with them about the importance of a shift in mobility towards bikes. We had pamphlets with tips and tricks for things like biking to work (how you keep yourself looking professional as opposed to sweaty), and one was a map of all the biking paths in Metz. We were faced with an irritated woman, at one point, complaining about bikes on the sidewalk and the dangers that she’s witnessed as a result of them, but our friend Edmond just clapped back saying “The sidewalks are split between bike and pedestrian lanes; you just don’t respect them!”. This highlights the main problem that I’ve seen with bikes here in Metz; there aren’t lanes dedicated to one or the other (except in few locations), so pedestrians and bikers often have to share, which doesn’t always end harmoniously.

There were tables at the festival for homemade products (promoting a zero waste lifestyle), a table set up for tree conservation, for teaching people how to compost (lead by our friend Jean-Jacques), one for the European Institute itself, another for Motris (hosted by another friend, Olivier Rudez, whom we do E&B with) and most others selling naturally, sustainably sourced goods. There were food trucks and live music as well, which made for a lot of happy tummies and good fun. I’m so happy that I attended and became a part of this program because of events like the Ecology festival, where I got to see a community come together and rally for the environment. I’ve been inspired by the people here to act on the concern that I’ve had for the environment since my youth. I can do it, we all can, we just need the know-how. I feel confident that my efforts and the people that I’ve met here in Metz have permanently changed the way that I’ll live my life. Go green, my friends, the rewards are endless.

Week 4 – Metz by Bike

This past week was another busy one for the SLS program at GTL. We spent some time with a representative of Mortris doing some cool composting, got to visit a workshop for bikes held at Metz à Vélo and also got an inside look at traffic management in Metz at the circulation office.

We started off with a visit to an event called Épluchures et Bicyclette in which the other students, Dr. Kozhanova, and I rode bikes with a volunteer from Motris, an organization dedicated to improving the state of society (greener, more accepting, more creative), named Olivier Rudez around Metz gathering food waste for composting from a couple different restaurants, bars, and a tea shop. We started at the office of Metz à Vélo to borrow some bikes, then set off on our mission. It was an amazing experience, being able to ride alongside the drivers on the road, who were all very considerate of our entourage, and wave at people sitting outside of the cafés. Each time we walked into the restaurant or bar, we just had to mention “Épluchures and Bicyclette”, and someone would run to the back in order to get their food wastes for us. They always smiled and thanked us for our efforts, but it didn’t feel like we were doing much work. We would dump things like potato peelings, squeezed lemons, and old coffee grounds into containers and then weight them in order to document how much we were adding in total to the composting at Motris. I’m looking forward to doing it again in the next coming weeks, as long as the weather holds up. I think that this has been my favorite composting activity yet!

The next day, we visited Metz à Vélo again, this time to see one of the workshops in action. Metz à Vélo is an organization that aims to shift the focus of transportation away from vehicles and instead to bikes for the good of the environment and potentially economic advantages. At the workshops, the volunteers will repair and tune up bikes for people that use them exclusively to get around, like to work or to school. One of the volunteers talked with us about the different events they host, like a “Bike School” for children to instill the idea in them that bikes should be their preferred method of transport and to keep them active. The vice president, François Baudry, was also informative and very eager for us to help him spread the word, for us to engage in the events going on around Metz à Vélo, and for us to potentially help make biking safer for people on larger roadways.

For our last adventure of the week, we visited the office of Direction of Traffic of Public Spaces and sat through a presentation by Dominique Loesch in which he walked us through the traffic/circulation challenges in Metz. He discussed the challenges with congestion in the city created by the intersections in Metz (there are 92!) and the solutions that Metz was putting in to place in order to alleviate some of it, like their traffic monitoring system Gertrude (a one-of-a-kind system in Metz) and the buses called Mettis. He talked about the importance of public transportation and often mentioned Strasbourg, France as a good example of effective implementation of public transport (with the trams). In my experience so far, getting around Metz has been extremely easy. The dorm where all of the techies stay is about an hour walk away from the city center, but its cut down to around 25 minutes by bus. There are multiple routes and times that the buses come and go with an app that helps you navigate them, and people use the buses all the time. If Metz is this good, I can only imagine was Strasbourg public transport is like. I think it would be a great idea for Atlanta to start looking to some European cities for examples of how to improve their public transportation. It’s a sprawling city, and its constituents could really use a way to get around besides using a car (traffic is a hug problem in Atlanta!).

As each of my weeks come to a close, I enjoy reflecting on the efforts that people are making in order to facilitate a greener, more sustainable city/life. I hope that one of the journeys our program takes this semester will inspire you to try it out.

Before I go, I just want to share my weekly picture from my travels, reminding you and me why it’s important that we aim to live sustainably and responsibly. Pictured below, the bay next to Èze, France, a small medieval town in between Nice and Monaco, Monte-Carlo. Thank you for reading through another one of my installments. À tout à l’heure!