PARIS, Sept 24 (NNN-AGENCIES) — France’s parliament will from Tuesday debate legislation seeking to move the country closer to its ambition of a low-waste future, forcing electronics firms to use second-hand materials and cutting down on plastic refuse.
France, with its population of nearly 70 million, is a voracious consumer of natural resources, producing five tonnes of waste per person per year, according to the environment ministry.
The French Senate will begin three days of discussion on the bill before it is handed to the lower house of parliament, the National Assembly, where President Emmanuel Macron’s government has a large majority.
The legislation would compel computer and cellphone repair shops to use second-hand materials, and oblige industries — including manufacturers of toys, building materials, cigarettes and cleaning products — to manage the waste these products generate as well as their packaging.
The law would also compel manufacturers to provide consumers, beginning in 2021, with information on how their newly-purchased product can be repaired.
In a report last year titled “Roadmap for the Circular Economy”, the French government outlined plans to halve the amount of non-hazardous waste sent to landfills by 2025.
“The situation is clear: France has a long way to go… In 2014, the rate of recovery of household and similar waste was 39 percent — much lower than our German (65 percent) or Belgian (50 percent) neighbours,” the report said. “The rest, half of which is organic waste, is therefore incinerated or landfilled, which leads to local environmental pollution and energy waste that is incompatible with our climate objectives” of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from burning oil and coal.
Only about a fifth of plastic was recycled, said the report — lower than the European Union average of 30 percent or Scandinavian countries with more than 90 percent.
The French use about 47,000 tonnes of discardable cleaning wipes every year, and destroy some 650 million euros worth of unsold, non-food products. — NNN-AGENCIES
