Paris (AFP)
The National Assembly voted Wednesday evening the creation of new polluter pays, especially in the construction and tobacco sectors, one of the key measures of the anti-waste bill.
The principle of these EPR ("extended producer responsibility") channels is to require professionals to contribute financially to the management and recycling of waste related to their products.
The most important that the text wants to create is that on building and public works, which would generate 227 million tonnes of waste per year, according to the Ministry of Ecological Transition.
Professionals in the sector have repeatedly expressed their opposition to this REP, which the bill wants to put in place from 2022.
But "at no time did they bring any alternative proposals", regrets the rapporteur for the bill Stéphanie Kerbarh (LREM).
"The industry has been trying to save time from the start but an EPR industry is going to be set up. It is up to them to get around the table", warns his colleague Laurence Maillart-Méhaignerie (LREM), while the wild deposits of construction are a major concern.
Another EPR sector, that on tobacco to finance the recovery of cigarette butts from 2021, especially on the beaches. "The tobacco industry agrees. In any case, they understood that they had no choice," said Secretary of State Brune Poirson.
Or those on toys, sports and leisure articles, DIY and gardening in 2022, and for pre-soaked wipes for personal and household use, from 2024.
The deputies voted unanimously on this article 8 of the bill.
© 2019 AFP