Heavy metals and hydrocarbons pollution poisons Chinese soil to the equivalent of one and a …
Founded in 2004 by François Bouché during the revitalization of the AZF site, Valgo specializes in the remediation of soils and groundwater, asbestos removal and deconstruction operations and the transformation of organic waste into energy. Since 2011, the company has experienced a significant development in France and internationally, driven by a brownfield revitalization technique that consists of combining depollution operations with technical and financial engineering. Goal: to develop ecologically responsible and economically viable projects allowing a long-term industrial reconversion. Meeting with François Bouché, President and CEO of Valgo.
Water, Industry and Nuisances Magazine: What is your view on the soil remediation market in France?
François Bouché: The economic health of the soil remediation sector depends to a large extent on two factors. The first is related to the brownfield market that takes us sometimes to lead actions of depollution since we also build on polluted lands.
However, we know that for two years, the land property market has been witnessing a real upturn which, logically, pulls the market of the lands’ depollution. The other aspect concerns the manufacturers themselves who have been very affected by the crisis in recent years. For a few months, we have also been feeling a recovery, which is reflected in a significant relaunching of pollution control programs prior to investment projects. Manufacturers are also driven by CSR initiatives that encourage them to act. All this makes it possible to note a clear change of approach in the way projects are taken into account. Today it is our will that leads the way instead of the obligations and there is a tendency to do a little more than what we are obliged to do.
EIN Magazine: How have companies dealt with crisis in the sector during the last years?
F.B.: Most of the counterparts have seen their activity levels stabilized in the last 3 or 4 years and see the activity restart only now. Valgo was fortunate not to suffer this slowdown thanks to the remediation of the former Petroplus refinery, which generated a high level of activity at a time when the market was slowing down sharply. This contract has allowed us to mark a growth of around 25% per year, on average, over the past four years.
EIN magazine: How is Valgo positioned in the soil remediation market?
F.B.: Valgo has developed a specific approach in this market, which consists in integrating depollution operations with technical and financial engineering in order to develop ecologically responsible and economically viable projects, thus enabling a long-term industrial reconversion. This ability to purchase land affected by soil or groundwater pollution is important because it is the triggering factor for the depollution activity. In this way, when the activity decreases, Valgo is lucky compared to its colleagues, to have partners who can invest. This is an important asset, even though it is neither possible nor desirable to generalize this practice, Valgo being primarily a construction company. This possibility, which is essentially a defensive approach vis-à-vis a disrupted economic context, does not affect more than 20% of our turnover. The remaining 80% comes from a more traditional approach.
EIN magazine: What is your outcome from the remediation of the Petroplus refinery in Petit-Couronne?
F.B.: Since the end of 2014, when we bought this old refinery, we initiated and financed 20 million euros worth of work. There are still 150 million to be committed over the next two years. In deconstruction-asbestos removal, we are at 60% progress and soil remediation between 30 and 40%. The work should be completed by the end of 2019, although it is possible that some pumping stations will remain after this date.
As for the reconversion, we were able to install a dozen companies on the site, which created 250 jobs. Eventually, nearly 700 people could work on the site. At this time, 100% of the land is reserved. We therefore consider it a model operation in terms of circular industrial economy.
EIN magazine: Could such an operation be renewed in principle?
F.B.: Yes, if the conditions that allowed it to be completed were again met, i.e. if we were again confronted with a site affected by a high level of pollution and a favorable market for transactions. Site rehabilitation is often exclusively associated with the concept of liabilities. Only reclamation costs and charges are taken into account. The positive aspects of remediation are usually forgotten while they are an integral part of the value chain. We want to continue to provide a whole range of services that go from the works contract to the implementation of the third party mechanism opened by the ALUR law. Valgo can both provide control of technical risks and take over the environmental obligations.
EIN magazine: Are new regulatory developments desirable to enhance market liquidity?
F.B.: Several regulatory changes have already made it possible in recent years to streamline the market by securing the different stakeholders. However, a text that would allow tax exemption for polluted land would improve the device. A small tax boost, like the Malraux law for example, which has helped restore old buildings and starting from the city centers, would undoubtedly solve the tensions that weigh on the land in France. Land prices could fall which would directly benefit all markets for soil remediation and construction. There is a real logic in being concerned about polluted land.
EIN magazine: What are the developments in recent years in treatment techniques?
F.B.: The techniques implemented in soil and site remediation are largely related to two factors, which are time and cost. Project owners have long thought they were cleaning up by transferring polluted land to landfills. This is now less the case. Clients today are more willing to wait for 3 or 6 months, or even a year more, to save 50 or 60% and start on-site treatment. But they must constantly arbitrate between the time factor and the cost factor, the latter becoming more and more important. As a result, they now tend to anticipate by beginning in-situ remediation to avoid land excavation. This is a heavy trend of the market. As for the treatment, Valgo tends to highlight thermal desorption and ICRH. The first, fast but expensive, has proven itself. It is based on simple principles, easily understandable by the client, which helps to reassure him. But she is not very restrained and consumes a lot of fossil energy. Hence the interest of the ICRH which is based on a cocktail injection of patented chemicals products that will allow certain types of bacteria to be more active than others by degrading chlorinated products, some pesticides … etc. This technology consumes almost no energy, it is more complex to implement but less expensive. Valgo often combines the two techniques, especially in Brazil where we are currently working on major depollution projects.
EIN magazine: What about phytoremediation?
F.B.: Of all treatment techniques, phytoremediation is the one with the longest time factor. Typically, a site that may require 2 to 3 months through heat treatment may take a few months or even a year for ICRH, and 5 to 10 years with phytoremediation. Phytoremediation programs are rather requested by local communities for projects where the time factor is not essential. Everything depends on the use that will be made of the polluted land. Valgo is rather positioned on landholding or industrial projects often characterized by tight schedules and requiring a certain speed of execution.
EIN Magazine: What is the status of your international development?
F.B.: Today, we produce almost 10% of our turnover through our export division, which employs nearly 40 people, mainly in southern Europe and South America. Why these geographical areas? Because the depollution operations are not systematically transferable from one country to another. Climate, geology, that is the nature of the soil, the regulatory framework and the environmental conscience among others are all variables likely to intervene directly on the depollution operations. The countries of South America and the Latin countries of southern Europe have a regulatory framework quite similar to ours, which favors exchanges as much as projects.