France's Suez looks to hazardous waste for China growth (updated)

China Everbright Environment

13/06/2018 14:01

* Suez launches new hazardous waste treatment plant in China
    * Aims to have five in total by end of the year
    * Operating experience helps fend off local competition -
exec

 (Recasts, adds detail and quotes)
    By David Stanway
    CHANGZHOU, China, June 13 (Reuters) - French utility Suez SA
 SEVI.PA  will focus on hazardous waste treatment as its main
growth area in China, a senior executive said on Wednesday, as
it bids to play a bigger role in the country's efforts to tackle
pollution.
    The firm launched a joint venture hazardous waste treatment
plant with China Everbright International  0257.HK  in
Changzhou, in the eastern coastal province of Jiangsu, its third
such plant in China. It aims to have five plants by the end of
2018 and in the future hopes to build two a year.
    Suez is already involved in 70 water and waste joint
ventures in China, but it is turning more towards hazardous
chemical waste in a bid to find a niche in an increasingly
saturated waste treatment market.      
    "We are much more competitive in this market than in
municipal waste," said Suez Vice President Bertrand Camus at a
briefing at the Changzhou site.
    Hazardous waste treatment has become a priority as China
bids to remediate contaminated rivers and soil. The environment
ministry vowed last month to improve the way dangerous materials
are stored, transported and recycled.      
    The market is expected to be worth around 200 billion yuan
($31 billion) over the 2016-2020 period, the environment
ministry's official publication said last year. Domestic firms
have also been undergoing a period of consolidation as they bid
to qualify for big projects.  
    Suez has already had 14 years of experience running a
treatment plant in Shanghai, which gives it a big advantage over
domestic competitors, Camus said. 
    "This knowledge - we have it, and most of the local
competitors don't have it yet," he said, 
    He added that while the technological gap was narrowing,
Suez's ability to provide comprehensive waste management
solutions for customers also gave it an edge.
    Total investment in the Changzhou facility was 329 million
yuan and its processing capacity 30,000 tonnes per year.
    Suez is currently building another plant in Taixing, also in
Jiangsu, to serve customers in a new chemical industry park.
    The plant will process 30,000 tonnes of waste annually, but
has the space to expand to meet additional demand.
    "The park is already saying the capacity is not enough so we
may need to build another," said Christophe Hazebrouck, Suez
project manager at the facility.
($1 = 6.3985 yuan)

 (Reporting by David Stanway, editing by David Evans)
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