Waste management: Suez and MAScIR to collaborate on innovations in Morocco

Suez is strengthening its “Open Innovation” approach, which includes scientific partnerships with research centers and universities. On March 14, 2024, the global environmental giant signed an R&D (research and development) memorandum of understanding with the MAScIR foundation of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P) in Morocco.

The partnership with the MAScIR foundation is “based on co-creation and innovation. This partnership, which brings together the scientific excellence of the MAScIR foundation and Suez’s expertise in waste treatment, will help to support the ambitions of the Cherifian Kingdom in terms of ecological transition”, explained Sabrina Soussan, the French group’s President and CEO, after signing the agreement with Hicham El Habti, President of UM6P.

Turning waste challenges into sustainable opportunities

The Suez group, which is involved in this new partnership, already has teams of 1,100 experts worldwide, who have already filed 1,700 patents through 10 research and excellence centers. These include the International Research Centre For Water and the Environment (Cirsee), based at Croissy-sur-Seine in the Paris region (France), which specializes in drinking water production, water distribution networks, wastewater treatment and reuse, waste recycling, health and environmental risk management and data analysis.

For its part, the MAScIR foundation reaffirmed its vocation for science, innovation and research, and its desire to “meet the current and future needs of national operators by proposing innovative solutions with high added value”. The Moroccan research center boasts 200 researchers and engineers in the fields of biotechnology, materials and microelectronics.

Suez intends to draw on this expertise to identify resilient circular solutions required for the treatment and recovery of organic waste from agriculture (which is used to produce compost, electricity, heat and steam, possibly in cogeneration, editor’s note), industrial waste, as well as for the development of low-carbon footprint solutions.

In addition to innovation, Suez supports the realization of this ambition by helping companies to manage their waste. One example is the Moroccan agricultural group Azura, based in Agadir in western Morocco and Dakhla in Western Sahara. In January 2024, the global water and waste giant strengthened its partnership with the group through two new 6-year contracts. They cover the installation of two platforms capable of handling 116,000 tonnes of organic waste per year. These residues will produce 42,000 tonnes of compost and 43,000 tonnes of semi-finished solid recovered fuel (SRF). CSR can be used for optimal combustion in industrial furnaces.

Cover photo: By AFRIK21