The amount of waste produced is expected to increase by 70% by 2050, according to the World Bank. A figure that makes you dizzy. So, to avoid these mountains of waste at our doors, manufacturers and public authorities have found the solution by giving them a new life. Mirage or reality? The magazine “Cash Investigation“(Facebook, Twitter, #cashinvestigati), presented by Elise Lucet, led the investigation.
The communication campaigns of sorting professionals hammer home this. You can throw all your plastic waste in the yellow bin, the recycling bin! “Cash” journalist Claire Tesson has discovered why the 8.5 billion plastic yoghurt pots thrown in the trash by French consumers are hardly recycled …
Revelations on the reverse side of anaerobic digestion
France still burns more than a third of its household waste, or 12 million tonnes per year, in the 122 incinerators in the country. On arrival, huge piles of ash and residues, bottom ash, which concentrate pollutants and heavy metals. For months, “Cash” collected thousands of data to establish the classification of the good and bad pupils of the incineration and the recycling on the territory. And from these mountains of waste can be born fortunes. How has the Paprec group become, in less than thirty years, the number one in recycling?
Anaerobic digestion transforms agricultural waste into town gas or electricity. On paper, a great idea boosted by hundreds of millions of euros of public money, but in the countryside, anger is roaring against these “methanizers” which are multiplying everywhere in France. They whet the appetites of large groups like Engie. Repeated incidents, pollution, lack of control… Revelations on the reverse side of anaerobic digestion.
“Waste: the great illusion”, an investigation by Claire Tesson broadcast Thursday, November 11, 2021 at 9 pm on France 2.
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