It all started with several reports of residents of the demolition site of the old fire station, 8, boulevard du Maréchal-Foch in Chartres. The inhabitants of the neighboring street had noticed large partially buried bags and, above all, the unusual outfit of the workers who manipulated them. They had combinations similar to those used for the treatment of dangerous substances. Intrigued and worried, residents alerted the authorities. “It is thanks to the vigilance of the neighborhood that this offense was uncovered,” recognizes the prefecture.
The control, carried out on June 19, confirmed suspicions. “The storage of several bags containing asbestos from the site” has been noted, can be read in the joint press release of the Dreal (Regional Directorate of Environment, Planning and Housing) and the prefecture of Eure-et-Loir. No state service had authorized such storage.
Strictly prohibited
Located in the city and in the heart of a residential area, the site made the maneuver all the more visible. And it is not trivial according to the prefecture: “It is the first time that a company has been trying to hide such a quantity of hazardous waste on an urban site”. Given the area concerned and the number of bags identified, it can be estimated that it is almost three tonnes of waste.
Asbestos is classified among the most strictly supervised waste, due to its dangerousness for human health and the environment. It must be evacuated to specialized centers, authorized to confine it under maximum security conditions. Here, none of that: the bags were left on the spot, exposed, ready to be buried.
Faced with these breaches, the reaction of the Dreal was immediate. Bouygues Immobilier, project manager of the project, was put in notice to evacuate all of the waste concerned, to have a soil diagnosis on potentially polluted areas, then to backfill with materials in accordance with the standards in force.
