Contrary to the messages heard in advertisements or awareness campaigns, but also to preconceived ideas or shortcuts, not all waste or packaging is recycled in the same way. “Today the word recycling is on everyone’s lips. Politicians and manufacturers talk to us about it as the miracle solution to all our waste, so we wanted to know if this was really the case. There is also a report. of the rather alarming World Bank which says that by 2050, if nothing changes, the amount of waste on our planet will increase by 70% “, underline lTo journalist-director, Claire Tesson.
No, not all packaging can be recycled. There is a real gap between the communication that is made around sorting and the facts.
Claire Tessonon franceinfo
“In France it is Citeo, a private company financed by manufacturers who put packaging on the market (Danone, Coca, Evian) which takes care of piloting recycling in France, it is commissioned by the State, it is is a public service mission, says Claire Tesson, And this company communicates on the fact that today, in most of the French municipalities, we can put all our packaging in the yellow bin, the sorting bin, so that this packaging can then be recycled. What we discovered is that in fact only 28% of plastic packaging is actually recycled, the rest ends up in landfill or incineration. “
To mark the spirits at the beginning of the investigation with an object that speaks to everyone, Claire Tesson’s team decided to take the example of the yoghurt pot, a product that is widely consumed in France but a false friend of selective sorting. To the point of making a giant posed in the street to attract the attention of passers-by. “With the simplification of sorting, the yoghurt pot is one of these new packaging that we are asked to put in the yellow bin, but in reality in France, there is hardly any recycling channel. Less than 3% of our polystyrene yoghurt pots are effectively recycled, and these recycled yoghurt pots most often go afterwards to Spain or Germany, so the carbon footprint of this recycling operation is a problem “, indicates Claire Tesson.
The second part of the report focuses on the French recycling juggernaut, Paprec, with in particular the immersion of a journalist from the show in a hidden camera on the sorting workshops. “This immersion as a sorting agent by Grégoire Huet, one of my colleagues, was based on a video sent to us by an anonymous sorting agent who demonstrates very difficult working conditions. the best solution was to go and see for ourselves. back problems, who take high-dose painkillers, unsuitable equipment. “
This gives rise to a confrontation between the presenter Elise Lucet and the CEO of Paprec, Jean-Luc Petithuguenin, also about the appearance of the group in the famous Pandora Papers. “We noticed after several months of investigation that the Paprec group appeared in the Pandora Papers, explains Elise Lucet. In 1994 and at the beginning of the 2000s, we realized that when Jean-Luc Petithuguenin bought the group, this takeover was financed by Luxembourg companies owned by offshore companies in Panama and the British Virgin Islands, therefore from the money that comes from tax havens. “
Finally, once is not customary, the survey ends with a message encouraging the French to consume less and throw away less, which is fully assumed by Claire Tesson: “By carrying out this survey, I realized that the ‘best’ waste is that which is not produced. We must review our consumption method, move towards more bulk and reduce waste upstream of sorting.”
Investigation “Waste: the great illusion” to see Thursday, November 11 in the program “Cash Investigation”, at 9:10 pm on France 2. Followed by responses from the team to questions from viewers.