This week, the Réunion Import and Trade Union and ADEME presented the results of the “extended producer responsibility” sectors for 2023. The volume of waste collected by these sectors is increasing.
Sorting waste is a reflex that is making its way into the daily lives of Reunion Islanders. Apart from those which are sorted in the yellow bin, other types of waste are returned to their place of purchase: batteries in supermarkets and other stores offering them, or even medicines in pharmacies, etc.
As a reminder, manufacturers and distributors have a duty to set up sorting channels for their used products, within the framework of what is called “Extended producer responsibility“, you REP.
Waste sorting begins at the recycling center, like here at the Marine au Port. Each type of used object has its designated corner: on one side large household appliances, on the other small ones, further away special waste such as batteries or neon lights; elsewhere bulky items and green waste…
Watch the report from Réunion La 1ère:
Where is waste recycling in Reunion? Summary in this report.
“This recycling center in the Western Territory serves as a consolidation platform for waste before being recycled in different sectors“, summarizes Joël Theophin, operating director of Cycléa. Tires, metals, household appliances… everything will go to different specialized recycling channels.
Supporting users of the territory so that each type of waste finds its place is the role of technical agents like Fabrice Sourama. “We welcome people, we look at what they have brought, and we tell them, based on the type of waste they have, where to put it.“, indicates the agent at the Port recycling center.
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The thirty large household appliances received here each week, for example, will be collected by the company RVE (Réunion Valorisation Environnement) in Saint-André, responsible for breaking them into pieces, and separating scrap metal, plastics, or even waste. gases contained in some, such as refrigerators.
So many elements which will be packaged in containers to be shipped to mainland France to be retransformed into secondary raw materials, explains Joël Theophin of Cyclea.
In Reunion, the results of these sectors “REP” was presented this week by the Réunion Import and Trade Union (SICR) and the Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). Good news: in 2023, the volume of REP waste collected by the different sectors increased, reaching 59,966 tonnes, an increase of 7% compared to 2022. In total, 26 different recycling sectors exist on the island.
“This means that we collect more waste, that there is better traceability, and better allocation of money from eco-contributions which makes it possible to avoid being saturated with waste on an island territory. welcomes Philippe Alexandre Rebboah, president of the SICR.
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“It's important to have figures to be able to situate yourself. What is positive is that we are making progress, we are collecting and recycling more and more waste in the field of REP sectors“, is also satisfied Frédéric Guillot, the regional director of ADEME.
ADEME, on behalf of the State, has an incentive role and facilitates the task of operators, who are responsible for respecting the law by recovering waste from their sector. “For example, on the creation of a new REP sector for toy waste, we can help an operator to create an installation, whether it is a resource center or a recycling center, to collect toys, repair some of them and recycle those that do not. are not reusable. We will be there for the investment part“, explains the director of ADEME. The creation of such a sector is precisely in the works.
Indeed, it is not just a matter of sorting waste and collecting it. They still need to be valued afterwards. “The challenge of tomorrow will be reuse instead of throwing away“, underlines Philippe Alexandre Rebboah of the SICR.
Smartphones with damaged screens, for example, can have a second life, and even benefit from repair and reuse funds, managed by ADEME.
In addition, we must change the image of waste, says the director of the Import and Trade Union: “We must consider waste not as something polluting, but potentially as a secondary raw material, to create jobs and maintain wealth in Reunion Island.“.
