Veolia Searching for Platinum on the Street

France’s Veolia Environnement SA (NYSE:VE) is looking for platinum and palladium in an unusual place – According to Bloomberg, the company will attempt to recover precious metals from city street grime.

As quoted in the publication:

The French waste and water company built a factory at Ling Hall in Warwickshire to extract rare metals blown out of vehicle exhaust filters and onto roads and sidewalks. It stumbled upon this “urban mining” after sorting refuse to try to reduce waste sent to landfills, Estelle Brachlianoff, U.K. and Ireland executive vice-president, said yesterday in Paris.

“We’re in talks to see whether we can develop this business in London and other parts of the U.K.,” she said. “It’s worthwhile in countries where landfill is expensive.”

The technique, which also extracts palladium and rhodium used in the catalytic converters attached to exhausts, is part of a push to double sales from recycling to 5 billion euros ($6 billion) in five years. Veolia plans, with projects like the U.K. operation, to find new ways to recycle the millions of tons of garbage it collects each year.

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