You have to turn around a bit covered olive market, in the 18th arrondissement of Paris, to come across these three skips lined up against the building. This Wednesday, the surroundings are rather dirty and hardly invite to activate the crank to slip our waste there. “Here, you can deposit your food waste”, is it reminded on each of them, in capital letters. Either meal preparations and leftovers, but also expired products, removed from their packaging.
On the hour spent in the area that noon, only Antonia, a retired living in the neighborhood, will drop off a bag of peelings. “Like every two or three days,” she says before going to the market. But it was during the week and at the end of the morning, when the hope of Colombe Brossel, assistant to the town hall of Paris in charge of sorting and reducing waste, is that Parisians stop at these voluntary contribution points. “on the way to work or taking the children to school”.
“A huge mess” currently
At any ratethe Anti-waste law for a circular economy (Agec), of which we have just celebrated the 3 years, leaves no choice. From January 1, 2024, the French will have to have near their homes with a practical solution for sorting their bio-waste. The deposit is not trivial. Nicolas Garnier, General Delegate of‘Prime, an association of local authorities that have waste competence in their area, estimates it at 80 kg per year and per inhabitant*, for our food waste alone. That is a total deposit of around 5.4 million tonnes in France.
Currently, this bio-waste most often ends up in gray bins with the rest of the residual household waste, i.e. all that remains of our waste when we have removed what is recycled. Then they are buried or incinerated. “In the first case, this bio-waste will degrade by releasing methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. In the second, we burn a material composed of 85% water, which does not make much sense”, points out Alexandre Guilluy. In short: “a huge mess”, describes the co-founder of Alchemistsa company specializing in the collection and composting of bio-waste.
The promise of collecting them separately is then to find a better recovery for our food waste. “Either composting or methanation, which both allow a return to the earth and would thus help to bring them back to life,” continues Alexandre Guilluy. The stakes have never been greater as we gradually become aware of the degradation of our soils and the consequences this has. »
A vast project for communities
Nicolas Garnier recognizes that this measure of the Agec law “goes in the direction of history”. It remains to set up these sorting solutions, not an easy task for local authorities. Like the others, Paris gropes. “For several years now, we deliver vermicomposters for free and also install collective composters in the courtyards of buildings or at the neighborhood level, where Parisians show interest, Colombre Brossel begins. We train them and support them. On a larger scale, Paris has mainly launched door-to-door collections in the 2nd, 12th and 19th arrondissements. The classic option therefore, with a dump truck which collects these brown bins taken out that day at the foot of the buildings. Without much success? “The quantities recovered are rather low compared to the cost of these collections, adds Colombe Brossel. Moreover, few Parisian buildings have the space to accommodate a new trash can. Only 40% of those in the 12th were able to do so, for example. »
Hence these points of voluntary contributions that the capital is developing in parallel. “We started in 2020 by providing terminals on the markets on opening days, continues the elected official. They made it possible to collect 500 tonnes of bio-waste in 2021. This is encouraging. From being temporary, these terminals are gradually becoming fixed, accessible 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, like at the Olive market. “We are not only doing this in our 70 markets but also in our 400 trilib stations [où les Parisiens peuvent déjà déposer leurs déchets recyclables] “, specifies the assistant to the City of Paris.
Never ready on January 1st?
The objective is to “provide a sorting solution to every Parisian within 300 meters of their home”. And if the points of voluntary contributions seem to be the backbone of this strategy, Colombe Brossel insists “on the need not to bet on a single solution, but to combine them all **”. “This is the observation drawn by a good number of local authorities which have begun to look into the subject, confirms Nicolas Garnier, while pointing out major trends all the same. “In rural areas, composting at the bottom of the garden is often enough, there’s no need to be more sophisticated,” he begins. In urban areas, door-to-door collection is often the most relevant, even if it is expensive. Or collective composting, on a neighborhood scale, when we are sure of the involvement of the inhabitants. Finally, in dense urban areas, given the constraints, collection at a voluntary drop-off point is generally necessary. »
The delegate general of Amorce, however, invites us not to have too many illusions. “Communities will never be ready on January 1,” he warns. That each one has at least carried out its feasibility study would already be a good objective. Above all, sorting and collecting this bio-waste has a cost. “Around 10 euros per year and per inhabitant, he estimates. Not nothing while the cost of managing our waste – and therefore of the household waste collection tax paid by the French – has increased since the surge in energy pricesie. This will still be the case in 2023. »
Finally, this Agec law only asks communities to provide solutions. Nothing says that the French will seize it. “Where it has already started, communities recover a small half of the quantity they are supposed to collect”, points out Nicolas Garnier. A sign that this new sorting gesture is still far from being a reflex in France. It will come, hopes Alexandre Guilluy, who sees this deadline of January 1, 2024 as “a starting point”.
* Our bio-waste represents a third of our residual household waste, assesses Ademe. That is 180 kg, on average, per year and per inhabitants. “In the lot, a little more than half is made up of green waste (garden mowing, pruned branches), explains Nicolas Garnier. For them, there is hardly a subject: they must be valued as much as possible in your garden. The rest of our bio-waste – the 80 kg – is made up of our food waste.
** Especially since on January 1, 2024, professionals generating bio-waste, regardless of the quantity, will also have to sort and collect it. In other words, “We must also put ourselves in battle order to collect food waste from the 300 crèches, 650 schools, 110 colleges… in the capital, lists Colombe Brossel. This invites us to find synergies in the solutions put in place. »