A mixed assessment. In its latest survey, ADEME estimates that in July 2024, 40% of the population had a solution to sort and recycle their bio-wastecompared to 33% last January.
An increasing figure, even if it is still far from the objectives of the AGEC law. As a reminder, biowaste includes food waste (table and meal preparation waste) and green waste (mowing, pruning, branches from parks and gardens).
If the law does set an obligation to implement bio-waste sorting solutions for citizens, it does not set performance objectives to be achieved, explains Cécile Bussière, advocacy officer for the Réseau Compost Citoyen Occitanie.
Among the existing solutions (separate collection, door-to-door or at a voluntary drop-off point, or local, individual and collective composting), composting still comes first and continues to progress.
This is the case in rural and mixed communities where collection represents significant costs, but also in large cities like Poitiers, Toulouse or even Montpellier who continue to develop composting alongside other solutions for their city center.
The main obstacles identified
A few months ago, the Interministerial Directorate of Public Transformation (DITP) carried out a survey of nearly 400 communities on the obstacles and difficulties they encountered in implementing this sorting at source.
Among the main obstacles cited, we find first of all: costs (investment, operation), then “the lack of interest of those administered”and finally the “fear of effects on health”.
On the latter, “However, it seems easy to respond by complying with the regulations and the recommendations of ADEME in terms of good practices”underlines the Occitanie Citizen Compost Network.
For their part, 38% of citizens surveyed by ADEME mentioned the lack of information on the sorting solutions available to them. The desire for a national communication campaign on the issues of sorting at source came back regularly.
Including from members surveyed by the Réseau Compost Citoyen Occitanie (more than 90% are in favor). Reactivated on the issue, the Ministry of Ecological Transition indicates that it will launch a campaign when half of the population has a sorting solution.
However, it seems urgent to us to implement it, since one of the obstacles to achieving the objectives of the law… lies precisely in the lack of communication!”, deplores the Réseau Compost Citoyen Occitanie.
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Behavior change levers
During the Network seminar in 2024, some ideas were provided. Among which, adopt new vocabulary, change approach and outlook on waste, adapt the equipment to your daily lifeor even establish routines.
To accelerate deployment and respond to the various obstacles mentioned above, several solutions have been identified: support and deployment technical means allowing sorting and recovery, information and communication.
Apart from the training and awareness community agents, elected officials and citizen site representatives (for shared composting sites), simplification and harmonization sorting instructions would be welcome.
Finally, to anchor new habits, the members of the Network recommend levers linked to change in individual and collective citizen behavior and call on the State to become more involved with communities and citizens in 2025.
How ? By launching a major national communications campaign in 2025, by setting clear objectives for diverting biowaste from household waste for communities (divert 39 kg/inhabitant in 2026; 29 kg/inhabitant in 2030 and 12.9 kg/inhabitant in 2035).
But also by finding new financing levers to support communities(through the general tax on polluting activities) to take over from the Green Fund whose financing is coming to an end.
The Network offers a credit mechanism on TGAP making it possible to deduct from this the investment and operating expenses over the first three years of areas of improvement deployed by the communities.
Finally, its members insist on the need to support the training program for prevention and local management of biowaste (PG-PROX) to have trained and competent personnel and create non-relocatable jobs in the composting sector.
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