What’s the best way to deal with our waste ?

When it comes to waste management, the emphasis must first and foremost be on prevention and reuse. As Bea Johnson, the icon of 0 waste, says : « The best waste is the waste that doesn’t exist », so the main priority is to avoid producing waste in the first place.

To reduce the amount of waste, new practices are emerging and old, common-sense alternatives are coming back into fashion : buying in bulk or using returnable containers, selling second-hand products, lending, hiring, donating, repairing, making things yourself…

The French are reviewing their consumption habits by applying the 3Rs : Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. Like this motto, the disposable society has begun its transition to a more responsible and sustainable society that generates less waste.

Despite efforts to reduce waste, the French produced around 310 million tonnes of waste in 2020.The best way to deal with this waste is to recycle it. In other words, this means reusing the materials contained in waste to make new products or « secondary » raw materials, with the aim of preserving natural resources by avoiding the extraction of virgin raw materials.

To improve waste treatment, selective sorting must be carried out at source: in households and businesses. We are required to separate packaging (plastic, metal, cardboard…), paper (newspapers, catalogues, magazines…), glass, household waste and, from January 2024, bio-waste (green waste, food scraps…).

The aim of this sorting is to direct the waste streams to the appropriate treatment channel. After collection, recyclable waste (packaging, paper, glass…) is sent to different sorting centres according to its type, so that its materials can be reused.

With material recovery, the waste is reused in a new form to replace another material, for example inert waste can be used to fill in quarries.

Recycling and material recovery help to create a more sustainable and efficient system in which resources are used optimally. In a circular economy approach, waste is reintegrated into the production cycle and given a market value.

When recycling is not possible, there are various methods of recovering energy from waste, including composting, the production of Solid Recovered Fuel (SRF) and methanisation.

• On an industrial scale, composting involves aerobic treatment (in the presence of oxygen) of organic waste to produce compost, a natural soil fertiliser.
• Methanisation is also used to treat organic waste, producing biogas and digestate. The former becomes a source of energy (heating or fuel), while the latter can be used to improve soil fertility.
• SRF is used as a substitute for fossil fuels to generate heat or electricity (in cement works or urban networks, for example). Waste-to-energy conversion must be carried out in facilities that allow other energy sources to be used, to avoid exclusive dependence on waste and to avoid hampering material conversion.

When waste cannot be recycled or recovered, it is referred to as residual waste, and there are still two ways of disposing of it.

• Incineration without energy recovery : this process consists of burning the waste in suitable furnaces without producing any energy.
• Landfill, where the final waste is buried. There are three categories of landfill in France : for inert waste (rubble, excavated soil) there are the Inert Waste Storage Facilities, for hazardous waste there are the Hazardous Waste Storage Facilities and for non-hazardous waste there are the Non-Hazardous Household Waste Storage Facilities.

Waste management requires a multifaceted approach based on prevention, recycling, energy recovery and, as a last resort, disposal. By adopting a policy based on reduction at source and efficient use of resources, we can move towards a more sustainable circular economy, preserving our environment.

• Code de l’environnement

• Législation européenne sur la gestion des déchets

• Les flux de déchets en un coup d’œil