Martigues: Paprec and Vicat inaugurate ALTèreNATIVE, an innovative plant serving industry and regional decarbonization

Martigues, July 9, 2026

Decarbonizing the industry is an imperative to meet the current environmental challenges. Using non-recyclable waste to replace fossil fuels can dramatically reduce their imports and significantly reduce CO2 emissions.

Jointly operated by Paprec and Vicat through its subsidiary CIRCULère since September 2025, the ALTèreNATIVE plant can produce 50,000 metric tons of this solid recovered fuel (SRF) annually from non-recyclable waste.

Previously sent to landfill, this non-recyclable waste sorted at Paprec plants is now being recovered. It will be used as fuel to power the Vicat cement plant at Grave de Peille (06). This short circuit use limits landfill and reduces the use of fossil fuels. It is a means to decarbonize local industry while developing regional energy independence.

Inaugurated on July 9, the plant has 20 employees on site. With its capacity to produce 50,000 metric tons per year and with 15.4 million euros invested, ALTèreNATIVE is now the biggest plant of its kind in France.

An industrial alliance between two family-run groups
This project is the result of a close partnership between Paprec, the French recycling leader, a major European player in waste management, and Vicat, an international industrial player, a reference name in mineral and biosourced construction materials. These two family-run groups are in the habit of long term thinking and investment.

“We chose Paprec based on human criteria: mutual confidence, ambitious shared goals, reciprocal sincerity and industrial reality” emphasized Guy Sidos, CEO of Vicat.

“Waste that was previously buried is now replacing fossil fuels in the kilns at the neighboring Vicat cement plant. This unique initiative embodies industrial ecology at the scale of an entire region. We are transforming a waste product into a local resource on a short circuit”, added Sébastien Petithuguenin, Vice-CEO of Paprec.

A decarbonization lever

ALTèreNATIVE is part of an overall decarbonization strategy at Vicat. The Group is committed to decarbonizing its business with the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality along its value chain by 2050, in line with the 2015 Paris Agreement. The goal set for 2030 is to reduce Group emissions to 497 kg CO2 net/t cement eq. (430 kg CO2 net/t cement eq. for the Europe zone). 
This goal will be reached by activating 3 levers that are well understood and have been in operation for many years: modernizing facilities for better energy efficiency, the use of alternative fuels to substitute fossil fuels, and reducing the clinker content of the cement. The future, beyond 2030, is already being prepared with a fourth lever: capturing residual CO2 emissions at cement plants.

Preserving natural resources by recycling waste and producing net carbon energy from non-recyclable waste has been the mission of the Paprec group since it was founded thirty years ago. The group’s activities mean that almost 7 million metric tons of CO2 emissions are avoided every year.

About ALTèreNATIVE:
• Location: Martigues (13)
• Business: production of solid recovered fuels (SRF)
• Production: 50,000 metric tons/year
• Investment: 15.4 million euros
• Workforce: 20 employees
• Enables a 50% reduction in CO₂ emissions associated with fuel use compared with fossil fuels, representing 48,000 tonnes of CO₂ avoided per year (source: ADEME, Evaluation of the Environmental Footprint of the SRF/RDF Sector).

About Paprec:
Founded in 1994 by the Petithuguenin family, Paprec is the French recycling leader and one of the major European leaders in waste management and the production of green energy. In 2025, the group employed 20,000 people at 400 sites in ten countries, with turnover in 2025 of 3.5 billion euros. Since its creation, the group has invested 4 billion euros in France in its factories and technological tools.

Press officer: agathe.Remoue@paprec.com on 06 27 47 60 69

About Vicat:

VICAT has been a leading industrial player in the field of mineral and bio-based building materials for 170 years. Vicat is a group listed on Euronext Paris (member of the SBF 120 index) and is majority-owned by the founding family. With the ambition of achieving carbon neutrality across its value chain by 2050, the company currently operates in three main business areas: Cement, Ready-Mix Concrete (RMC) and Aggregates, as well as complementary activities to these core businesses. With presence in 12 developed and emerging countries, the cement group employs nearly 10,000 people and achieved consolidated revenue of €3.854 billion in 2025. As a company firmly rooted in the regions it serves, VICAT is developing a circular economy model that benefits everyone, innovating daily to reduce the environmental impact of construction.

Press officer: raphael.hinninger@vicat.fr on 07 61 74 86 52