Agde is a small town with a population of less than 18,000. It is situated on the Mediterranean coast close to the town of Beziers. From the middle of September to the middle of June the daily production of MSW amounts to an average of 25 tonnes (including a few surrounding counties).
During the summer months the population triples and the waste production is multiplied by four, with daily peaks of over 150 tonnes.
To build transportation and incineration capacity to handle the peak season waste would be too expensive, but the waste must still be taken care of in a clean and environmentally safe way to not disturb the tourist industry.
In the spring of 1997 we were asked to arrange baling of approx. 6,000 tonnes from the end of June to end of August. During the summer 1998 approximately 7,000 tonnes were baled. In 1999 approximately 8,500 tonnes and in 2000 approximately 13,000 tonnes, including waste from more remote coastal villages.
The old incinerator at Agde has now been declared obsolete and closed down together with its sister on Pesenas. The Agde site has been transformed into a transfer station delivering waste mainly to the new incinerator in Lunel. The baled summer-waste is stored on the Agde site and transported by walking floor trucks to Lunel and Avignon during the cold season.