The association bringing together European plastic producers called on Tuesday to generalize selective collection in France, in view of the delay of the country which always puts more waste in the landfill than it recycles, unlike its European neighbors.
“Since 2015 in Europe, we recycle more than we put in landfill.
This is not the case at all in France,” said Jean-Yves Daclin, Managing Director of Plastics Europe, when publishing the 2020 figures on the circular economy of plastics in France.
Taken out of the bins, plastic waste can have three fates: to be landfilled, to be burned to produce energy or even to be recycled into new plastic.
In France, the second technique is the most used, since 44% of post-consumer plastic waste was recovered for energy in 2020. Then comes landfilling (31%) and finally recycling, which represents only 25% waste treatment, despite an increase in recent years.
Generalize selective collection
“We are on a good trend, but very clearly insufficient in terms of pace”, warned Jean-Yves Daclin, recalling that France was one of the five worst students in Europe, where 34% of plastic waste is recycled in average (almost 50% for the top three – Netherlands, Norway and Spain).
The solution according to Plastics Europe?
Generalize selective collection, which allows “to achieve an extremely high recycling rate”, unlike mixed collection, of which “only a tiny part is sent for recycling”.
For example, 77% of plastic packaging collected and sorted is recycled, compared to only 3% of that collected as a mixture (i.e. two thirds of this waste).
Some lagging sectors
“We have a phenomenal margin for progress”, says Jean-Yves Daclin, “If all plastic packaging were collected separately, France could largely double its production of recycled plastic material”.
However, not all sectors are at the same point: only 4% of plastic waste related to household equipment, sports and leisure is recycled, compared to 51% of agricultural waste, thanks to a voluntary collection system set up in place by the sector.
Plastics Europe notes that the sectors that are doing the best have a voluntary system or legislation obliging the industry to organize its recycling (REP), and therefore calls in its press release "for a strong political will to put an end to the waste of resources caused by mixed collection”.
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