Compulsory composting, 2024 is coming soon!

In short, what does the law say?

The so-called ‘anti-waste’ law of February 10, 2020 (1), officially “LAW n° 2020-105 of February 10, 2020 relating to the fight against waste and the circular economy”plans to reduce all forms of overconsumption on all common products.

It requires a drastic reduction in packaging and the use of paper (in particular for advertising purposes, issuing receipts, etc.).

Producers will be required to take numerous anti-waste gestures, as will institutions, communities and certain industries. Households will have to sort their bio-waste for recycling.

Thus the law provides for the deployment of local management of bio-waste by January 1, 2024, thanks, among other things, to au composting domestic with the possibility of acquiring individual composters or of take advantage of shared composting equipment (composters at the foot of buildings, neighborhoods, or directly in establishments for large structures).

The law also provides for the deployment of separate collection of bio-waste, which will open up new job prospects. Waste incineration will be reduced.

Local management will have to be rigorous in order to shorten the treatment circuits for this waste.

Conclusive tests

Some communities (more than 100) including Lille, Lorient, Bordeaux, or Clermont-Ferrand, have already adopted this solution and the feedback is excellent, especially since the collection of bio-waste encourages unexpected behavior: the sorting performance of other waste is increased!

The other municipalities will have to get up to speed very quickly because the deadline is fast approaching.

Why is it so important to implement individual composting?

As we said above, the sorting effort is not only required of households and individually, large producers (mass distribution, fairgrounds, food industries, restaurants, canteens, companies managing green spaces, etc. ) have already made their contribution to the building since 2012 with a hardening of the thresholds in 2016. Indeed, any professional producing more than 10 tonnes per year of bio-waste and 60 liters of oil is required to sort this bio-waste and have it recycled in appropriate channels (production of biogas by anaerobic digestion or composting).

For individuals, knowing that the composting process will reduce the volume of waste to be transported by three, this results in a gain on the energy spent in transport.

Landfilling bio-waste, compacting it and fermenting it on a large scale emits a significant dose of methane, a gas with a global warming potential greater than 25% of CO2.

The incineration of bio-waste also produces harmful greenhouse gas emissions for the environment.

If each citizen begins individual composting, this organic matter, instead of being lost and indirectly harmful to the environment, will become a benefit by being transformed into an organic product in the form of composting, spreading or methanization.

Whether it involves the creation of clean energy (biogas) or fertile digestates, in the context of methanization, or even the creation of organic fertile through composting or spreading to replace, for example, fertilizer synthetic using non-renewable mining resources and very energy-intensive transformation processes, everyone will be a winnerespecially when we know that our country is dependent on others for the purchase of chemical fertilizers.

What are the individual composting solutions to implement?

Before you can recycle them, you have to be clear about the term ‘bio-waste’. Are concerned :

• green waste (lawn clippings, dead leaves, pruning residues, etc.);

• food wasteotherwise known as ‘table waste’ (meal leftovers, various peelings, inedible fruit or vegetables, animal by-products and leftover meat from expired products, eggshells, coffee grounds, tea bags, etc.).

Several solutions are available to citizens depending on their lifestyle and possibilities:

• the lombricomposteur multi-storey that appeals to earthworms;

• and bokashivery practical, which takes up little space in the apartment and will offer you a juice, ideal for fertiliser your indoor plants;

• the garden composter in rural or suburban areas which, after transformation of household waste into beautiful humuswill allowloosento improve and enrich the soil of the garden;

• the shared composter otherwise called ‘composting chalet’ or the collective composter at the foot of buildings in town which will ensure collection towards methanization companies, or transformation into compost in large scale ;

• sorting in a bio-bucket and emptying into bins or containersor even collective terminals made available to users by the town hall.

Law February 10, 2020