Recycling: unequal sorting of waste according to the departments

Yellow trash can, green trash can, blue trash can, red trash can: the colors vary, but the principle is the same. Sorting your waste to recycle it better is a habit now rooted in the daily lives of the French. “According to the latest studies carried out, one in two French people would systematically sort their waste. If we count the ‘Sunday sorters’, the occasional workers, this would represent 89%”highlights the journalist Julien Duponchel on the set of 13 Hours, Tuesday August 16. “In 2021, we recycled 72% of our packaging, that represents around 3.8 million tonnes, the equivalent in weight of 376 Eiffel towers to give an order of magnitude”he continues.

An unequal distribution of recycled waste on the territory with good and bad students. Individual behaviors are not solely responsible, the infrastructures for effective recycling are not the same everywhere. “There are great disparities between the departments, the recycling rate is for example very high in Brittany and in the Pays de la Loire with 40% of waste recycled on average, while in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’ Azur is less than 18%. Infrastructure downstream of the sorting chain is not present everywhere. For example, there are a lot of composting facilities in Brittany, less in the South”comments Julien Duponchel.

To increase this rate, some local authorities are introducing tax incentives. “In Besançon (Doubs), your household waste tax is calculated by the weight of your classic bin. So you only pay for what you throw away. Sorting, composting, therefore brings you money, and the results are obvious: 20 30% less waste in the bins compared to the rest of France”concludes the journalist.