By making producers part of the solution, France aims to rein in plastic pollution
Three decades ago, France was being overwhelmed by packaging waste – from plastic packaging bottles to cardboard boxes – when public and private sector leaders came up with a radical idea. What if they made companies that manufacture and market household products responsible for what happens with the packaging after the product has been used?
And so was born one of the world’s first extended producer responsibility programmes. Nearly 35 years later, the initiative has been credited with helping France achieve high recycling rates and fund other solutions to plastic pollution.
A growing number of countries are now considering extended producer responsibility programmes as a way to counter surging plastic pollution, which will be a focus of this year’s World Environment Day celebrated on 5 June.
We recently spoke with Jean Hornain, the CEO of Citeo. This non-profit group is helping companies in France reduce the environmental impact of packaging, including plastic containers, and graphic paper. Hornain talked about how France’s programme works, what makes it successful and why extended producer responsibility has come to transcend political divide. Here are edited excerpts of that conversation.
Can you tell us about how extended producer responsibility works?
Jean Hornain (JH): It is simple. Companies take environmental responsibility for the products they’ve put on the market throughout their life cycle. Under extended producer responsibility legislation, companies gather into what are known as producer responsibility organizations (PROs). Citeo is a PRO for packaging. Each time companies sell a product with packaging, they pay a small fee to us based on unit sales and weight.
What happens with that money?
JH: This money – which amounted to 1.6 billion euros last year for packaging and paper – supports the reduction of packaging waste, the eco-design of packaging, reuse and recycling programmes, as well as anti-littering initiatives and public-awareness campaigns. The goal is to develop what we call a 100 per cent circular economy, which means using as little material as possible, using it as long as possible, and once its useful life has finished, recycling it.
Critics say extended producer responsibility programmes drive up prices for consumers. What do you say to that?
JH: Well, it’s true. I cannot say a transition like this is going to be free. For packaging, it represents, on average, 1 or 2 euro cents per piece of packaging. But the cost of doing this today is much, much, much lower than it will be in 30 years if we don’t handle the negative externalities of plastic pollution and waste production.
Distribution channels: Environment
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