Alteo, world leader in specialty aluminas, will benefit from an additional period, until August 30, to bring environmental discharges into the Mediterranean Sea, we learned on Thursday from the prefecture of Bouches-du- Rhône.
Placed in receivership since December due to a drop in orders, the company, which employs some 500 people, is currently building a water treatment unit to resolve this situation.
"We considered that the work had to be interrupted because of the Covid," said prefect Pierre Dartout. "It is a difference of two months which does not constitute an exorbitant overrun," he added to justify the decree postponing the standardization of discharges at sea, from June 30 to August 30.
Last two parameters
Initially, Alteo, whose Gardanne plant carries out liquid discharges in the Calanques National Park, had until June 8 to comply with the last two parameters about which it is still out of bounds: biological oxygen demand (BOD5 ) and chemical oxygen demand (COD).
It has already set standards for iron, arsenic, aluminum and the pH level of its liquid discharges.
The new deadline was requested by Alteo's administrators when they are looking for a buyer or a partner to save the company.
Alteo is also under fire from critics of environmentalists for the storage of waste on land. A judicial investigation was opened in March 2019.
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