Smoke escaping from the Ivry-Paris 13 household waste incinerator during the September 24, 2025, incident. COLLECTIF 3R
Built in 1969, the towering Ivry-Paris 13 household waste incinerator – one of the largest and oldest in Europe – is nearing the end of its life. The plant, located at the edge of Paris' 13th arrondissement, at the border with the suburb of Ivry, was supposed to finally stop releasing its thick plumes of smoke at the end of 2025. Then, on October 6, 2025, during the testing phase of the new "energy saving unit," or UVE, that's scheduled to replace it, an incident occurred, pushing the timeline back. Again.
Initially planned for 2023, then postponed to 2024, and again to 2025, the opening of the new facility is now scheduled to be operational "by September 30, 2026 at the latest," according to Syctom, the public household waste treatment services union in the Paris region.
"It may be old, but this plant is very efficient and remains fully compliant with current environmental standards. It strictly adheres to all regulations," Corentin Duprey, Syctom's president, told the newspaper Le Parisien on December 15, 2025, regarding the extension of the more than 50-year-old incinerator. The facility is located on the edge of the ring road, near residential areas and schools.
