Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni waste storage facility: eight drone visits and two time-lapses since October 2024
In Saint-Laurent-du-Maroni, the non-hazardous waste storage facility of the Communauté de communes de l’Ouest guyanais lies on the Paul-Isnard road. In September 2024 the authority entrusted us with monitoring the site in pictures, with one visit per quarter, and a particular request: to photograph the vultures (urubus) present on the site as well.
The same framing at every visit
Every visit follows the same protocol. The drone photographs the site from its four corners, along its two widths and two lengths, at several heights, then vertically from a position that is identical from one visit to the next, so that before and after can be compared directly. Close-up photos of the facilities, two 360° panoramas, a hyperlapse and the vulture series complete the set. Since December 2024, every visit has also included an orthophoto at 3 cm per pixel and its plan, which record the state of the site on the day of the flight.
Eight visits took place between 11 October 2024 and 6 July 2026: October and December 2024, March, June and November 2025, January, April and July 2026. In April 2026 the visit was supplemented by photos of slash-and-burn plots and of the land earmarked for a new building.
Two time-lapses during cell filling
In autumn 2025 the authority was preparing to fill a cell, an operation that can stretch over several weeks. It wanted a short video showing the trucks coming and going and the cell filling up. We suggested time-lapse cameras, which follow the works over their whole duration. Two were chosen: one on the sorting platform at the entrance of the site, the other at the back, by the cells, so that the clearing of the sorting platform could be correlated with the progressive filling of the cells. Being solar-powered, they had to be fixed on supports offering both the required framing and enough sunlight.
Installed in early November 2025, during a drone visit, the cameras were due to stay for one month. The shooting was extended twice, with memory-card changes along the way, and covers the period from 4 November 2025 to 25 March 2026. The edit of both sequences was delivered on 3 April 2026.
Apatou and the river
On 4 November 2025, the day after the Saint-Laurent visit, the authority’s waste collection centre in Apatou was mapped in turn: 1 cm orthophoto and plan. In February 2026 the same authority sent us to the Maroni villages of Grand-Santi, Maripasoula, Papaïchton and Loka, for 1 cm orthophotos of its waste-treatment units and the calculation of stored volumes.
In 2026 the Saint-Laurent monitoring continues at one visit per quarter: January, April and July are done, and the fourth visit of the year remains to be scheduled.
