'We need to start proper landfill management'

While India is now waking up to the problem of waste, propelled by increasing urbanisation, Guillaume Dourdin’s employer Veolia has been dealing with landfills for over a century. Dourdin, CEO of the Indian arm of the $24 billion wasteand water-management French utility, tells $ Dinakar in a video interview how India can profit from the twin problems of excess waste and scarce water supplies. Edited excerpts:

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The air quality index (AQI) in the city spiked, prompting many to leave the city for a short while, to resorts outside, or even to places with better AQI such as Corbett, Bhimtal, and Dehradun.

How important is India for Veolia?

Veolia has been in India for 25 years. We have defined a strategic plan for 2024-27 where we are committed to doubling the size of the company from two main businesses. One is on municipal water, the second is about industrial and hazardous waste. We have a third activity, which is water technology where we build facilities for municipalities or for industrial customers. We have built around 500 plants over the past 15 or 20 years. And we have some innovative solutions like carbon capture.

What kind of market size are we talking about for waste treatment?

In terms of municipal wastewater, Indian cities treat only about 28% of the sewage generated daily, creating a large market opportunity for sewage treatment and reuse facilities. The (market for) industrial wastewater treatment alone is $2.9 billion in size, and growing at 8.3 per cent a year, with projections to reach $4.7 billion by 2030, with significant investments in effluent treatment and zero liquid discharge technologies. Another report by Moder pegs the size of municipal waste management alone at $13.5 billion in 2025, growing at 5.8 per cent annually to reach about $17.9 billion by 2030.

How does India fit into Veolia’s global plans?