Waste dumps: investigating lucrative and environmentally hazardous practices

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T. Souman, N. Dahan, C. La Rocca, R. Pirosa France 3 – France 2

France Televisions

Open dumps, sometimes hidden in sheds, have become the obsession of several town halls. Fake companies also traffic in waste, offering to recycle it, but never doing so. Investigation of these lucrative practices and dangerous for the environment.

Accumulate as much waste as possible to get rich, in defiance of the rules. This mafia system, already seen in the south of Italy, is a new vein of French organized crime. In Saint Chamas (Bouches-du-Rhone)a recycling company moved into a large shed in 2021. But a local resident was amazed by the walkways and comings trucks. “We saw a lot grow over time. Trucks were coming in, coming in. We could legitimately ask the question concerning first of all the nature of the waste and its treatment, because we did not see any waste on site being treated”explains the man.

The device is well run. Crooks create a recycling company, rent a warehouse. They set a very attractive price, 180 euros per ton of waste to be treated. Customers in France and abroad pay and have their waste collected by truck. In the shedsnothing is recycled until the site is saturated. After nine months of massive storage, a fire, intentional or not, took place in the Saint-Chamas landfill. A bill carried by deputies from Bouches-du-Rhône wants to tighten the conditions for embarking on the recycling of waste.


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