France bad student of recycling

Five years ago, the European Union set itself ambitious recycling targets. First objective: recycle by 2025 more than half of our household waste, more than 55% precisely. NOTWe are two years from the deadline and France is late. This is what emerges from a report published by the European Commission: the household waste recycling rate in France stands at just over 42%. On plastic, it’s no better. Member States had set themselves a plastic packaging recycling rate of 50% by 2025, France was only at 27% in 2019.

France is not the only bad student because en fact, the majority of Member States are lagging behind. 18 countries including France should fail to achieve one of the two objectives set by Europe, whether for the recycling of household waste or the recycling of packaging. Only nine states are on track. Among them: Austria, Belgium, Germany or Italy. A few encouraging points, despite everything, to note for France: it has already exceeded its objectives for the recycling of glass, wood, paper and cardboard. The ideal would therefore be to do the same with plastic.

Solutions to be implemented quickly

To catch up on our delay a few years agoSeveral pieces of advice given by the European Commission: improve the collection of bio-waste – peelings and other biodegradable waste. With compost, we avoid burying or incinerating them. According to the government, all households will have to have a solution to sort this bio-waste but for the moment it is far from being done. Another recommendation is to promote instructions for plastic packaging. There too, a consultation is underway in France for the establishment of a deposit for plastic bottles. But some associations and communities are opposed to it. Finally, develop incentive pricing systems. In other words, charge by weight for the collection of unsorted waste.