Millions of plastic bottles emptied into returnable cups, the “zero waste” promise far from being kept

“Achieving the zero waste and zero single-use plastic trajectory” during the Olympic Games, this is the promise drawn up by the Organizing Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (COJOP) of Paris 2024, in “Our commitment to Paris 2024”, published in 2020. Zero waste Games? Zero plastic? A week after the start of the events, many spectators are seeing the opposite at the competition sites. And for good reason: their cups, reusable and depositable at two euros, are mostly filled… with the contents of plastic bottles, thrown away as soon as they are emptied.

On social networks, there are many messages mocking this service. Some environmental associations are taking a stand, like France Nature Environnement (FNE), which criticizes the “ten million drinks” estimated to come from plastic bottles during the Games. FNE awards Paris 2024 “the gold medal of greenwashing”a practice of displaying a false ecological ambition while participating in climate change. Other Internet users share photos to criticize these empty bottles, destined for the trash a few seconds after being opened.

In addition to the 1,200 water fountains installed in Paris, “700 fountains” soda dispensers have been installed at all competition sites, Paris 2024 indicates, to distribute drinks to spectators. Contacted, the COJOP explains that “on some temporary sites, the installation of drinks fountains was impossible”, “lack of connection to the water distribution network” Or “when the characteristics of the site make the handling of glass bottles difficult, as in Versailles or Elancourt”. In such cases, “drinks are served from recycled plastic bottles” but “these bottles are thus retained at source”.

“In France, around 25% of the plastic that can be recycled is truly recycled, here we ensure a 100% recycling rate”

The organizers of Paris 2024

to franceinfo

France Nature Environnement (FNE), based on a confidential document from COJOP, estimated in June 2024 that “of the nine million drinks sold to the public, 6.4 million [proviendraient] of plastic bottles”or more than two thirds. Since then, Paris 2024 estimates “sales of beverages to the general public at 15.8 million units”in an email to franceinfo dated August 5, 2024. Note that the exclusivity of the distribution of drinks during the Olympic Games was awarded to Coca-Cola, one of the main sponsors of the event.

The promise of zero plastic waste has gradually faded. Moreover, one month before the start of the Games, Paris 2024 is revising its ambitions downwards and indicates that it has set itself “the objective of halving the carbon footprint of the Games compared to the average of the London 2012 and Rio 2016 editions”. Furthermore, plastic bottles, even if recyclable, require a lot of energy to be recycled and can only be recycled a limited number of times before having to add non-recycled plastic again.

Plastic again: drinks are finally served in “ecocups”, reusable cups made of the same material. In total, 13 million ecocups were produced for the Olympic and Paralympic Games. They are sold for two euros to spectators, as a deposit, and can be returned to refreshment stands. However, the Zero Waste France association is concerned about the risk that few cups will be returned, if spectators decide to keep them as souvenirs.

Another controversy is that four million plastic bottles were distributed directly to athletes. The COJOP cites a public health imperative, for “prevent doping by sabotage” (when products are introduced into drinks in an attempt to disqualify a competitor), which allows it to circumvent French law. Indeed, the anti-waste law has prohibited the free distribution of plastic bottles in establishments open to the public since 2021, except in the case ofpublic health imperative.

Several associations doubt the validity of the reason given by COJOP, especially since several sports, notably tennis, already comply with the law by offering water bottles to athletes. FNE, No Plastic In My Sea and Zero Waste France sent a formal notice to the prefects of Paris and the Île-de-France region in early July, without receiving a response.

For Zero Waste France, it is up to the sponsors of the Olympic Games, Coca-Cola in the lead, to meet the ecological imperative, recalling on its site that in 2023, “Coca-Cola has been voted the world’s worst plastic polluter for the sixth consecutive year, according to the Break Free From Plastic network, of which Zero Waste France is a member.”. The association then appeals to the individual behavior of spectators, by distributing its Eco-Supporter’s Guide. Something to toast to, without “greenwasher”.