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More and more French people are recycling their waste. But are they then properly recycled? Some packaging made up of several materials can disrupt the entire recycling chain.
In plastic, cardboard or aluminum, the packaging of our products is everywhere on our shelves. And when it comes time to sort them out, do we really know which ones can be recycled? First, there are products that are not recyclable. They are identified by the inscription “to throw away”. On the contrary, there are those who are entirely. They are identified by the inscriptions “100% recyclable”.
There are also packaging which are made of several materials. When sorting them, the materials should ideally be separated. But this is not always the case, and it can disrupt the recycling chain, as in the sorting center of Capevern (Hautes-Pyrenees). Problem : the machines in the center can only identify one part of a package at a time. During manual sorting, it is moreover impossible to systematically separate the materials of the same packaging, given the rate. Results : not all are necessarily recycled.
For an environmental association, the origin of the problem is at the time of manufacture itself. “Of all the plastic packaging that is put on the market, only 65% is recyclable”explains Moïra Tourneur, head of advocacy for Zero Waste France.