“Intellectual scam, greenwashing, false deposit, dismantling of the public waste collection and sorting service”… The associations of elected officials reiterated their opposition on Tuesday to the establishment of a deposit on plastic bottles, which makes the subject of consultation.
On the eve of a national consultation meeting, the mayors and representatives of intermunicipal authorities, responsible for the management of household waste, denounced during a press conference a measure according to them “anti-ecological, under cover of green varnish “, which would destabilize the public waste collection system without improving plastic collection.
In January, the government relaunched a debate on the implementation of these instructions, an initiative previously withdrawn in extremis during the vote on the anti-waste law for a circular economy (Agec) in 2020.
The consultation, which provides for six national meetings and one per region, is due to end in June, but the mayors fear that the government will go through the regulatory process, without involving Parliament, to decide whether to put in place the instructions or improves the selective sorting of waste.
The European collection rate targets for plastic bottles are 90% in 2029.
But France caps below 60%, with plastic packaging neither collected nor sorted in most street or workplace bins.
Plastic bottles represent “350,000 tonnes, i.e. less than 1% of household waste, which totals 39 million tonnes, and are among the best valued plastic waste, with a recycling rate of 70% compared to 23% for other plastic waste. “, recalled Jean-François Vigier, UDI mayor of Bures-sur-Yvette (Essonne).
To improve recycling rates, the government would therefore do better, according to the mayors, to focus on other plastic packaging or the “thousands of consumer products that have no solution for selective collection and recycling”.
“The deposit does not reduce waste”, hammered Jean-François Debat, PS mayor of Bourg-en-Bresse (Ain).
“It’s an intellectual scam that consists of using the word deposit, perceived positively in public opinion, for an operation that is not one since the bottle will not be reused but destroyed to be recycled, that is to say to say that it will end up exactly in the same place as when it is thrown in the yellow bin of selective collection”, he added.
In addition, the ecological benefit of the deposits would be close to “zero”, continue the associations of elected officials, citing the example of Germany where the deposit has led, according to them, to an “increase in the production and sales of plastic bottles at Disposable”.
For the consumer, the operation seems to be a zero-sum game since he would pay 20 cents more for his bottle and would then be returned the money advanced after having had it “deconsigned” in an automat.
But “it is to forget that all the bottles will not necessarily be brought back”, especially in rural areas, continues Mr. Vigier, who estimates at 400 million euros the benefit that the beverage manufacturers would derive from it and at 320 million in lost revenue for communities.
Mayors accuse beverage manufacturers of wanting to “grab a financial windfall” while communities have invested in expensive machines. A sorting center costs around 30 million euros.
Main body responsible for the end of life of household packaging, Citéo for its part estimated that “the current collection system alone will not be enough” to achieve the objectives set for the sector. “The only way (…) is to mobilize all the stakeholders and all the levers available”.
While all packaging can be thrown into the yellow bins since January 1, 2023, elected officials fear that the introduction of a deposit will create confusion in the minds of the French.
To achieve European recycling targets, the mayors are making 14 proposals, including promoting the consumption of tap water to halve plastic bottles by 2030, increasing the frequency of collections or setting up selective collection of all packaging consumed outside the home.
04/18/2023 21:06:24 – Paris (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
