ClientEarth, Surfrider Foundation Europe and Zero Waste France accuse in a press release the groups Auchan, Carrefour, Casino, Danone, Lactalis, Les Mousquetaires, Picard Surgelés, as well as Nestlé France and McDonald's France, of proposing in this matter "vigilance plans at the at best insufficient to identify risks and prevent damage, at worst non-existent".

However, since 2017, the French law on the duty of vigilance obliges companies based in France and employing more than 5,000 people on the territory, or more than 10,000 in the world, to take effective measures to prevent violations of human rights and to the environment throughout their supply chain, in particular through a "vigilance plan".

"We want to create a shock of + deplasticization +, they (these companies) have to get on a good trajectory, with quantifiable measures," Antidia Citores, spokesperson for the NGO coalition, told AFP. , pointing out that "plastic causes damage to the environment, health and human rights".

“We have been talking with most of these companies for years” about this question, she insisted, believing that “these formal notices are in the continuity of this dialogue, when it is clear that nothing or not enough is n 'is made".

According to the law, companies have a period of three months to meet their obligations and possibly dialogue with NGOs.

At the end of this period, NGOs have the possibility of launching summonses.

“We ask them for extremely specific and individual things,” detailed Me Sébastien Mabile, one of the NGO lawyers.

For example, he noted that when they exist, "the strategies are based almost exclusively on recyclable products, of which we know that only a tiny part is in fact recycled".

“We ask them for a detailed trajectory on voluntary commitments,” insisted Me François de Cambiaire, another lawyer for the coalition.

The UN launched in March the development of an international treaty aimed at combating plastic pollution, which continues to increase.

According to the latest OECD estimates, some 460 million tonnes of plastics were produced in 2019 worldwide, generating 353 million tonnes of waste, of which less than 10% is currently recycled and 22% is abandoned in fly dumps. , burned in the open air or released into the environment.

© 2022 AFP