The 2020 anti-waste law failed to reduce waste, deplore NGOs

NGOs denounce intense lobbying by manufacturers which contributes to “unraveling” the law, the lack of controls and sanctions, and insufficient resources.

Trash bins ever more full. Four years after its promulgation, the anti-waste law has failed to reduce the volumes of waste in France, due to measures not applied and decrees having reduced the scope of the text, deplored several NGOs, Tuesday February 6. NGOs denounce intense lobbying by manufacturers which contributes to “to unravel” the law, the lack of controls and sanctions, and insufficient resources.

The anti-waste law for a circular economy (Agec), initially considered ambitious, both on the end of single-use plastic in 2040 and on better production or consumer information, is struggling to deliver the expected results, according to the report published by Zero Waste France, Surfrider Foundation Europe, Les Amis de la Terre, France Nature Environnement and No Plastic in my Sea.

“For lack of political will to guarantee the application of the law, companies have had complete freedom to circumvent, or even blithely divert the text from its initial objective: to reduce waste and the waste of natural resources”regretted Charlotte Soulary, advocacy manager for Zero Waste France.

Plastic bags always available

Illustration, an implementing decree adopted in mid-2023 provides 29 exemptions to the ban on plastic packaging for fruits and vegetables. NGOs contest the validity of this for many vegetables (carrots, mushrooms, endives, potatoes).

Another example, single-use plastic cups and bags, now banned, remain omnipresent and easily available for purchase, a sign of the insufficiency of controls and sanctions, judges the report, which also highlights the decline in means of control of the Fraud Prevention Department.

As for the elimination of plastic bottles, according to the associations, only a quarter of establishments open to the public (ERP) have set up a free water distribution system. And according to Ademe, the number of bottles placed on the market increased by 4% from 2021 to 2022.