All of these guidelines, commitments and actions are the result of consultation which took place in Grand Alès for the drafting of this document.
Here are a few examples of actions which have already been taken or are currently in progress.

• Eco-citizen recycling facilities
  Since 2007, each town in the agglomeration has an eco-citizen spot for people to recycle their batteries, mobile phones and ink cartridges.
  People can also retrieve brochures about sustainable development and rolls of waste sorting bags.
  Every City Hall, waste reception center, schools and day nurseries have eco-citizen spots.
  
• Batri-Box
  This little hexagonal cardboard box is distributed in primary schools and to teachers who want to increase their pupils' awareness about battery collection at home.
  Ecologik Buro, an alesian company, assumes the collection in the different schools.
  The Batri-Box is a real teaching tool, and the DVD/brochures kit which is given with the box to the teachers enables to complete the teaching about recycling.
• 
  Compost company
  
  Before 2011, a plant will be built in Salindres to manage household waste for the 53 towns of 6 communities of Haut du Gard gathered in SMIRITOM, the mixt syndicate which is in charge of following through the project since June 2000.
  Since March 2010, exhibitions are held in Salindres, Saint-Privat-des-Vieux and Alès. A 3-D film will be screened to make a virtual tour of the waste sorting plant, and understand the process used to treat 50 000 tons of household waste.
  This will also be an occasion to remind people that mechanical biological treatment is part of the objectives of development of the Grenelle Environment Round Table since it enables to collect recyclables (metals, plastic, cardboard, etc.) and to develop organic materials (compost).
  
  This method should allow the community to make significant savings since the eventual cost of treatment for a ton of household waste passes from 138,64€ to 97,29€.

• Hunting Water Leaks
  
  
  The drinking water conveyance syndicate of l’Avène embarked on a hunt against water leaks.
  
  This syndicate assumes the production of drinking water for 82 000 inhabitants and also handles the supplying of water in some 20 towns around Alès.
  
  It invests a million euros a year in water pipes renovation, which increased the efficiency of l’Avène Network from 37.7% in 2003 to 59.3% in 2007, and takes 5.3 million fewer cubic meters of water from the source SINCE 2003.

• A Greenway in Alès
  A 18 miles network dedicated to recreation, pedestrian or bicycle traffic is going to be created in Alès before 2014. As part of the Local Outline for cycle facilities in Gard, and with the “Partageons la route en Cévennes” Association , Alès City Hall as drafted an ambitious project of 2.8 million euros, with the financial support of Europe, of the Government, of the Department and of Region.
• A Walking Bus to go to the School Cafeteria
  Two schools in the center of Alès (Mistral and Pasteur) have chosen to organize the moving from school to the cafeteria on foot with coordinators rather than in bus. Children wear high-visibility vests for their security.

• In 2007, in partnership with Air Languedoc-Roussillon, Grand Alès carries out a study on the quality of air which is to last for five years.
  
  
  
  45 sensors have been installed in 6 towns of the agglomeration and a station has settled in Saint-Privas-des-Vieux to take ozone measurements. The results of these measurements are available on the “portail Alès Cévennes” and in Midi Libre on a daily basis.
  
  If the nitrogen dioxide level and the benzene level is fitting the European norms, it is more problematic in two particular places: Saint-Christol’s pyramid and the Avenue Carnot in Alès. On the whole, this study enables to maintain a constant vigilance and to save the data which will be necessary for future town and country planning decisions.

• One organic lunch a week in the school cafeterias of the agglomeration
  One organic lunch a week is proposed in the kindergartens and primary schools of Alès, Saint-Jean-du-Pin, Saint-Christol-lez-Alès and Salindres, and in the crèches of Saint-
  
  Hillaire-de-Brethmas, Saint-Jean-du-Gard, Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues, and other surrounding towns such as Saint-Jean-du-Pin, Saint-Christol-lez-Alès and Salindres. The Grenelle Environment objectives imposed 20% of organic food in the public school cafeterias from 2002 onward.
• A study about organic food in the the school cafeterias
  A study was carried out by the Sustainable Development Board of Grand Alès by October 2009 in the Pays Cévennes so as to have a better understanding of the practices and expectations of school cafeterias. 68% of the town halls which answered the questionnaire already serves organic food in their kindergartens and their primary schools : 39% served an oganic meal once a week, 9% twice a week, 9% every day, 14% once a month and 35% served organic meals on a regular basis as part as programs of awakening about food.
  
  A third of the school cafeterias are self-managed, two thirds appeal to a contractor to provide the meals every day.
  
  Besides the claim from the part of the elective representatives and the public, the concern for a food of quality (35%), but also the preservation of Environment (1 answer out of 5) are reasons that encourage people to choose organic food. On the other hand, the public schools which do not serve organic meals explain that their choice was motivated by difficulties in supplying and in the “cost overrun” brought on by organic food.
  
  This study thus reveals favorable arguments for sustainable development which encourage reasonable price local products on the basis of articles and conditions of quality. The aim is to foster the gradual creation of an organic products field which would be able to assume an efficient supplying of organic food and thus generate another economic impulse for the towns.
• Using local products in institutional catering
  Grand Alès agglomeration communities is currently considering to create a county professional kitchen which would cook meals for all the public facilities (schools, crèches, retirement homes, nursing homes, etc.) in the region. This company would provide local fruits and vegetables via agreements contracted with local producers.

• The eco-management passport
  
  
  A responsible eco-management commit itself to limit impacts on the environment that is, greenhouse gas emissions due to transportation, consumption of energies ( electricity, heating), refuse, waste waters, etc.
  
  An eco-management passport and a charter have been distributed to Alès and Grand Alès agents.
  
  Besides this document, it is a real participative step to increase the awareness of the greatest number of agents about the importance of sustainable development and to make them real eco-ambassadors to their circle of acquaintances.
  
  Five sections in the passport: sustainable buying practices, waste sorting, energy management, water savings, transportation improvement.
  
  Click here to download the: Eco-management Passport. (PDF – 1.5Mo)

• Photovoltaics
  
  
  Grand Alès planned the settlement of a solar farm on Lacoste-Lavabreille, and photovoltaic arrays on the roofs of the buildings of the Center of Mechanics .
  
  
  These two infrastructures will be put into service in August 2011 and September 2010.
  
  Lacoste-Valabreille is a plot of land located in Saint-Martin-de-Valgalgues that cannot be developed. The site will be equipped with 73 350 solar arrays spread on 74 acres which will produce 15.5 kw/h per year. This solar farm will be the largest in the region.
  
  These facilities will enable the community to receive 500 000€ a year from the rental fees and from the taxes paid by businesses and self employed people. This program will create no expense for the owner community which only rents its landed property to private enterprises. The latter are in charge with the putting in of the solar arrays as well as with their maintenance and recycling.
• Firewood Field
  
  This field was created in 2006 by the Plan d’Excellence Rurale du Pays Cévennes (a project acknowledged by the government). It will enable, in accordance with the Pays Cévennes
  
  Forest Charter, to provide firewood heating for the future hospital of Alès, the new Jacques Prévert Lycée, as well as for 2 5000 apartments in the center of Alès (thanks to an urban boiler room which will be operational from 2012).
  
  This Firewood Field and its five stocking platforms, will enable to develop 16million cubic meters of wood in the Cevennes forest and eventually provide for 10 000 tons of woodchips a year. Those woodchips will represent an important source of economic development for the Cevennes valleys.

• Approche Environnementale de l’Urbanisme (AEU®)
  Alès Plan Local de L’Urbanisme (PLU – Local Town Planning) is currently being drafted. The Environment issue is taken into account and privileged thanks to the creation of an AEU® ( Environmental Approch of Town Planning) to integrate environmental and energy recommendations going even further than the strict statutory aspects of the PLU. The AEU, labeled by the ADEME ( Agency for the Environment and the Management of Energy), enables to do an environmental report on the town and to point to the stakes in the rules established by the PLU. This approach is a means for the town to prepare the future creation of a sustainable district next to the railway station in Alès and other town planning projects.
• HQE Hospital*
  
  
  Alès Hospital Complex is currently havinga new section of 274 beds built for hospitalizations and consulting. There will also be a technical platform gathering the casualty department, the intensive care unit, the surgical unit, sterilization and radiotherapy.
  
  The section should open its doors by September 2010.
  
  This future hospital was built in taking into account the specific constraints of the hospital (energy, waste activities, air quality, etc.) and of sustainable development. Four objectives have been added to these constraints: quality, conviviality, intimacy, well being, respect for people, pedagogy, and evolution.
  
  The building is done with sustainable environment-friendly materials and the whole structure will benefit from a wood-fired boiler, and solar arrays to provide the building with electricity and boil water.
  
  A wood-fired boiler will produce 80% of the energy used for the heating in the premises and to produce potable hot water. The whole structure is concerned: the hospital, the laundry, the kitchen, the retirement home, the nursing school and the internship premises.
  
  A carefully studied architecture, thermal insulation, heated ceiling, wood-fired boiler, lighting automation, water saving and recycling, etc.
  
  *High Quality Environmental Stantard for green building in France based on principals of sustainable development.
• Noise Barrier
  
  
  A 380 meters noise barrier has been built to protect residents of the quartier des Mas Cévenols in Alès (76 houses). It is made of 5 million recycled bottles.
  
• Bio-covering on the pavement of the city center
  In 2007, a new bitumen was used on part of the pavement on Boulevard Louis Blanc. This bitumen was made without any petroleum derivative but with a resin created from vegetable products. This bitumen also has the capacity to catch nitrogen dioxide.
• Street Lighting
  The modernization of the street light network, in partnership with AMEC SPIE society ( 530 replacement and renovation operations), enabled Alès to save 4.17 million kWh (according to the DRIRE). In 2008, the town signed an agreement on energy conservation with EDF-GDF so as to sell or exchange its extra energy. The old mercury-vapor streetlights have been replaced by sodium vapor streetlamps which provide a better lighting and use less energy. An astronomical clock reduces the annual lighting by 4 100 hours. This enables Alès to save 20% of the energy used for street lighting, that is 60 000 euros per year.
• Sustainable neighborhood project next to the station of Alès
  
  
  This neighborhood is part of the objectives of Alès in its projects of development of the station and city center area so as to make it a real heart of Alès. This future sustainable neighborhood will link the city center to adjoining residential areas of Alès. The development of the railway between Nimes and Alès and the future transformation of the train – streetcar services are also part of this project. The creation of a multimodal center in the sustainable neighborhood was integrated in the project to make the connection between the different means of transportation in the town and in its outskirts.
  
  This future neighborhood aspires to propose houses that will fit better to the new expectancies.
  
  The project has a 50 acres site at its disposal while the main and first phase of the project will use only 10 acres.
  
  The program plans the building of 400 apartments, a multimodal transportation center, a house for sustainable development, a gym, a hotel and a crèche.
  
  The sustainable neighborhood was chosen as test site for the Europan competition, the European competition for young architects. Since January 2010, 3 projects have been selected. They represent three different view of town planning to be developed. Alès will choose the finalist after an examination in depth of each dossier.

• Nestle on the piedmont of the Cevennes, the agglomeration communities of Grand Alès has a rich and diversified natural heritage: chestnut trees which have been classified in the biosphere reserve of the Nation Park of the
  
  Cevennes, garrigue, and the Gardon drainage basin.
  
  The territory is bind to opposite factors: the decline of agriculture and the rural depopulation on one hand and on the other, the great demographic growth and the urbanization of the plains and of the garrigue.
  
  On these observations, Grand Alès committed in its Agenda 21 to preserve biodiversity. But so as to meet this commitment you have first to acquire a better knowledge of biodiversity hence the creation of an inventory of biodiversity on the territory. This is the initial work from which actions will be developed to increase people awareness on biodiversity and to inform local protagonists and residents. But it will also help in taking biodiversity into account in the drafting of all future projects of town and country planning. A dynamic vision of biodiversity will be privileged in the definition of ecological corridors used by wild species to move across the forest or along the rivers.
  
  Thanks to teaching programs in Grand Alès schools in partnership with specialized town agents and with the Maison de la Nature et de l’Environnement (House for Nature and Environment), a participative dimension will be added to the whole project.
  
  So as to succeed in such a plan, the agglomeration community of Grand Alès has solicited the National Park of the Cevennes, the DIREN, Languedoc-Roussillon, and the Region.