Communities will be required to offer a bio-waste sorting solution from January 1, 2024, which should lead to an increase in taxes on household waste.
After glass and plastic, it’s the turn of sorting bio-waste! Mandatory from the start of next year. But what does this imply? Clearly, the authorities will invite you to take food waste (peeings, organic waste, etc.) out of your traditional trash can.
The issues are crucial, because it is estimated that this putrescible waste represents 83 kilograms per inhabitant per year. According to Ademe (Ecological Transition Agency), this is a third of the 254 kilograms of household waste thrown away each year by the French. Excluding green waste (lawn, plants, etc.), there are 67 kilos that can potentially be sorted to be transformed into compost or methane and thus avoid landfill or incineration.
This new obligation, even if it is noble for the environment, comes at a significant cost for local communities. They will have to create new equipment and this has a cost:
“The management cost was evaluated, depending on the different possibilities for managing biowaste, between 7 and 20 euros per inhabitant per year on the SPGD (Public Waste Management Service)”, indicates the biowaste thematic engineer for Ademe, Muriel Bruschet for Le Figaro.
To help communities, the State is providing aid of 100 million euros. Which is too little according to the Amorce association which represents and supports communities engaged in the ecological transition, particularly in waste management. “Ademe is financing the project, thanks to the Green Fund, to the tune of 5 euros per inhabitant, but only for a single year,” declares Amorce general delegate Nicolas Garnier, for Le Figaro.
His association called on the government to reassess the allocation for communities by increasing it to 450 million euros as part of the 2024 finance bill. In vain, for the moment.
Household waste taxes, already indexed to inflation, are likely to rise in the coming years. However, these increases should be progressive and disparate in France. According to Ademe and the Ministry of Ecology, 20 million French people will in fact be affected by a bio-waste sorting solution on January 1, 2024.