Illustration of a waste sorting center.

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P.MAGNIEN / 20 MINUTES

  • The Suez group, which manages the collection of garbage cans in certain cities, reveals the results of a survey on waste management by users.

  • There are a few obstacles to this declared desire to reduce household waste.

Is it so easy to reduce your waste?

In Hauts-de-France, seven out of ten inhabitants answer yes.

On the occasion of European Waste Week, the Suez * group, which manages the collection of garbage cans in certain cities, unveils the results of a survey aimed at determining the attitude of users during the Covid-19 health crisis.

However, there are some brakes to this declared desire to reduce household waste.

A contradictory economic logic

Insofar as the providers responsible for collection are paid by weight, they do not necessarily have an interest in seeing a reduction in the quantity of household waste to be treated.

A recent controversy has highlighted this paradox.

The Métropole de Lille (MEL) was forced to pay compensation to the service provider Esterra because the inhabitants had reduced their household waste too much.

The incentive tax, that is to say invoicing the user according to the weight of his waste, would it allow practices to evolve?

The experiment is already in place in Grenoble and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region is favorable to it.

But nothing, for the moment in Hauts-de-France.

The MEL, with its million inhabitants, does not provide, for the moment, "the establishment of an incentive pricing by weight or lifting of bins", she admits to

20 Minutes

.

But it plans to "undertake a study in 2021 to analyze the opportunity and feasibility of its implementation", in order to "better understand the opportunities and constraints that this new mode of financing would generate".

Tap water difficult to drink

Consuming tap water is a simple way to reduce plastic waste: on average 64 kg per year and per person.

However, in Hauts-de-France, only one in four inhabitants say they drink it regularly.

Much less than elsewhere in France.

Why ?

Because of its taste and limestone, according to a survey by the Water Information Center.

“We are developing processes to reduce the presence of limestone from drinking water treatment plants.

This is the case in Valenciennes or even in Noyon.

Other cities, such as Dunkirk and Maubeuge are also thinking about it, ”explains Suez.

Lack of knowledge of the sorting system

For 85% of those questioned, manufacturers should limit the packaging of their products.

Otherwise, users must therefore sort.

Half of the respondents admit to having limited knowledge of the sorting system and one in four considers that sorting “takes too long”.

There is a website and an application monservicedechets.com that allows you to scan the barcode of a package to find out if it is recyclable and how to sort this waste according to local guidelines.

In Hauts-de-France, the Suez group has also developed the Tri Truck for Valenciennes Métropole, "a tool which is inspired by the concept of food trucks and makes it possible to reach the inhabitants of the territory as close as possible to their homes to raise their awareness. sorting waste, ”says Suez.

* Thousand interviewees per survey component, representative of the targeted area.

Study conducted electronically from October 12 to 22, 2020.

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  • Covid 19

  • Lille

  • Garbage

  • Survey

  • Waste

  • Trash can