The pot of yogurt, the tube of toothpaste, the empty packet of crisps or even the plastic tray of cherry tomatoes or ham. Since the beginning of the year, all this waste has changed destination. The inhabitants of Toulouse metropolis are now invited to put all this packaging in their sorting bin, in the same way as shampoo bottles, milk cartons, aluminum cans or paper.
This small revolution in terms of household waste management is a regulatory obligation which should make it possible to reduce the number of tonnes of collected waste that go to the incinerator each year. But it is far from being integrated by the population concerned, since, according to an opinion survey of the metropolis, only 17% of the inhabitants are aware of these new sorting instructions.
The objective is to better recycle them and give them a second life. Thus, plastic water bottles made from polyester (PET) can be reused in a factory in Spain that manufactures objects and plastic films can be transformed into garbage bags in French reprocessing companies. “The new packaging sorted by the inhabitants of the metropolis will supply specific recovery channels, 99% of which are located in France and Europe”, insists Laure Poddevin, director of Citeo Occitanie.
However, not all of them will find a destiny in a recycling company, such as packets of crisps that combine aluminum and plastic, for which the reuse solution has not yet seen the light of day. They will therefore return to the incineration sector. This is the case for 20 to 25% of sorted waste. But according to Citeo, integrating them into the sorting gesture simplifies the gesture, increases the quantities in general and gives habits.
“In 2021, 30,245 tonnes of sorted waste were collected in metropolitan France, i.e. 37 kg per inhabitant. With this simplification of sorting, our objective is to reach 33,000 tonnes each year, or 41 kg per inhabitant”, hopes Vincent Terrail-Novès, vice-president of the metropolis in charge of waste.
Bio-waste at voluntary drop-off points tested
While waiting for the opening of a new ultramodern sorting center, with optical reading, in 2025 in Bessières, that of Toulouse is adapting. But it will not be able to process all these new flows. “We have therefore implemented transitional treatment solutions, within the current center to treat fibrous and non-fibrous packaging, but also by sending part of this waste to two sorting centers in Lozère and near Montauban. This has an additional cost of 2 million euros, but the gesture of sorting has a cost and it is a transitional period, ”continues the elected official, who does not currently plan to change the rhythm of collection of blue bins. and yellow dedicated to sorting, “but will adapt it if necessary” and if the inhabitants play the game. It is currently possible to ask for a bigger box to the metropolis.
Because as the sorting bins grow, those devoted to household waste will reduce. Especially since, next year, to reduce them even more, the treatment of bio-waste will also be deployed. Beyond individual or collective composters, the metropolis will experiment, starting this year, with the collection of food waste at voluntary drop-off points. It is the inhabitants of the Grand Noble district, in Blagnac, who will be able to try it from October thanks to pre-collection equipment that they will be able to have at home before going to throw their bio-waste in one of the 10 sheltered bins installed in the public space. With the objective, thanks to all these devices, of going from 5.8 kg of food waste collected and composted per inhabitant in 2021 to 8 kg next year.
In the meantime, to emphasize the novelty of sorting, a major communication campaign will be launched to speed up user awareness. An awareness that seems to have begun to germinate in recent years since the volume of residents’ trash cans has decreased. “In 2010, 472 kg of waste was produced per inhabitant. In 2021, it was 447 kg and our objective is that in 2024 we reach 420 kg. We are on a good trajectory”, welcomed Jean-Luc Moudenc, the president of Toulouse Métropole. It now remains to pack the population.