In a major recycling initiative, French ski area Val Cenis, has managed to save 90% of the raw material needed to build a new high-speed quad chairlift by recycling parts from other lifts.
Lift manufacturer Poma undertook the plan to build the new Roches Blanches lift in as environmentally, friendly way as possible, in keeping with the wider strong green ethos of the Haute Maurienne Vanoise region where Val Cenis is located, located between the Vanoise National Park and the Italian border.
The works undertaken by Isère-based Poma, involve the use of second-hand equipment made up of parts bought from other resorts (cable elements, seats, stations etc.) with most of the 90% of savings made in needing less new steel.
In total only 35 of the 400 tonnes of equipment (cables, nuts and bolts and station roof) were manufactured specifically for the Roches Blanches chairlift project.
The new lift, which is an upgrade from a fixed grip to detachable quad will also have 14 pylons instead of seven. It will also cut ascent time on the route from around 14 minutes to under 6 minutes whilst almost doubling capacity from 1267 to 2400 people per hour.
Keeping with the circular economy ethos, once dismantled, the former chairlift being replaced, with its 21 pylons and 116 seats, will either be sold for spare parts or in turn be recycled.