Is recycling plastic packaging a reliable solution to the global problem of plastic proliferation and pollution? France is one of the worst performers in Europe for the recycling of household plastic packaging and according to Ademe, the Agency for Ecological Transition, packaging is the main plastic consumption sector in France, far ahead of construction and construction. car. One figure speaks volumes in this regard: in France, the recycling rate for single-use food products is only 28%, while the recycling rate for all types of packaging is 68%.
Why is it so difficult to recycle this plastic packaging? Firstly because the signage is confusing and the sorting instructions have changed quite recently.
Today, for example, it is necessary to place in the yellow bin packaging on which it is still written that they must be thrown in the gray bin. This extension of the sorting instruction, intended to revive this habit, concerns 65% of the territory. To put it simply, it is a question of placing all packaging for recycling, including what cannot be recycled.
In the end, this does not remove the suspicions and misunderstandings that still hover over recycling. Thus, Pierre, a Parisian and father of three little girls, sorts his packaging without much conviction. “I’m not convinced that what I put in the yellow bin is going to be recycled, he explains. For several reasons: already, when I see that when the yellow bin is too full, we empty the overflow into the green one at the level of the building’s bins.
“I have the impression that there is really a confusion around what is recyclable and what is actually recycled.”
This is the first problem with recycling: sorting and collection are insufficient, particularly in Îthe-of-France. According to the Regional Waste Observatory in Île-de-France, only 14% of plastic waste is collected compared to 24% in France. This can be seen, for example, in the sorting center of the Metropolitan Household Waste Agency in Nanterre, where large colored balls of waste are piled up. But everything is far from having been recovered, according to Catherine Boux, deputy director general of Syctom, the metropolitan agency. “It is said that an inhabitant consumes 39 to 40 kilos of packaging per year, she indicates. But in fact, what will end up in the yellow lidded bin is only 3 or 4 kilos…” If it is difficult in urban areas to collect this packaging, it is also because of the lack of yellow bins which are not sufficient to contain everything, with packaging that is ultimately thrown into street bins.
And the consumer is not solely responsible: the fault also lies with the packaging. Citeo, the organization responsible for managing the disposal of this waste, estimates that manufacturers put 1.1 million tonnes of plastic packaging on the market each year, of which only 28% is recycled. And of that small part, less than half becomes food packaging again. Only a little over 10% of what is put up for sale is therefore recycled, the rest being used to make car floor mats or PVC pipes.
“It is only the plastic bottles that are transformed back into bottles, into PET trays and everything else is downcycling, that is to say that the plastic waste will be used to manufacture other objects, explains Nathalie Gontard, research director at Inrae (National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment) in the agro-polymer engineering and emerging technologies unit in Montpellier. For example, a chair to replace metal or a coat hanger to replace wood, or a flower pot to replace terracotta. Materials, therefore, which pose no problem with regard to the environment. So, somewhere, we don’t make the danger of plastic disappear.”
What is truly recycled today in France are transparent plastic bottles, with which we can make new bottles. But, frequently, manufacturers must add virgin plastic to recycled plastic to make new containers. Citeo currently estimates that 65% of plastic packaging placed on the market is recyclable. 15% are waiting for a sector to be set up to be reprocessed into plastics and 20% are not recyclable at all. In this part, there are still trays of cold cuts, tablets of medicines and cosmetic products.
Will salvation come from the Americans or the Canadians? The American group Eastman and the Canadians of Loop plan to open chemical treatment plants by 2025 in France. But the chemical treatment process, which does not exist at the industrial stage today in France, is criticized for its environmental weight and worries market players. Sébastien Petithuguenin, managing director of Paprec, one of the recycling giants in France, believes that the new players risk encroaching on mechanical recycling, which represents 99% of technology today in France. “It would be a big mistake to think that chemical recycling is going to be a solution that will solve all the problems, he warns. Chemical recycling will come to help mechanical recycling to treat certain products, which it does not know how to treat today, but that will not be the miracle solution.
“Thanks to chemical recycling, we will not save on the eco-design of future packaging. In the 21st century, it is absurd to put on the market packaging or products that by nature have a short life cycle which are not recyclable.”
Sébastien Petithuguenin, Managing Director of Paprecat franceinfo
Researchers believe that recycling is not a solution to the dramatic proliferation and pollution of plastic. They therefore recommend a simple and quick method: to contain plastic pollution, all you have to do is limit the use of plastic packaging, bearing in mind that other types of packaging such as cardboard or glass are much more efficient. for recycling.