Four firms eager to handle Tallinn waste

  • 1999-03-25
  • Kairi Kurm
TALLINN - An internationally-known French waste management company is one of four candidates angling to manage Tallinn's waste disposal in the future.

CGEA-ONYX, one of Europe's leading waste disposal companies, along with Germany's SKP Recycling and Finland's Tekra Environmental Technology and Yit Corporation, are eager to land a bid to establish a refuse dump in the next two years, 20 kilometers from Tallinn. The dump would be used to collect and manage 200,000 tons of waste annually.

The Tallinn City Council began a competition for the bid among these international companies after it decided to close the Paaskula refuse dump to establish a better one that will also meet the demands of the European Union.

CGEA-ONYX representatives visited Tallinn last week and promised to invest 750 million kroons ($52 million) into the planned refuse dump and manage the waste cheaper than the Tallinn City Council can dream of - for 330 kroons per ton instead of the planned 500 kroons.

Pascal le Miere, director of CGEA-ONYX's operations in Central and Eastern Europe, says that the company can make it into a more environmentally friendly refuse dump. Passers-by, le Miere said, would not even notice the difference between a refuse dump or a golf course.

The company is also capable of establishing waste incineration with energy recovery. In North America it ranks fourth in this field.

CGEA- ONYX is the world's fourth largest waste management company and can operate in all areas of waste management and cleaning, from collection to treatment and re-use of waste through to urban and industrial cleaning.

The company employees 45,000 people and its turnover reached almost 42 billion kroons last year. CGEA- ONYX in turn belongs to Vivendi Group, the world's leader in utilities.