France green news: cigarette recycling, water reserves and ski resort closure

Recycling cigarette butts

An estimated 20,000 to 25,000 tonnes of cigarette butts (mégots) are thrown away in France each year – a figure likely to diminish now that the nationwide ban on smoking in public areas such as parks, beaches and outside schools has come into force.

However, for three years a company from near Beauvais in the Oise department has been providing a win-win solution for discarded butts – TchaoMégot collects, cleans and recycles them to make insulating materials by harvesting a key raw material: cellulose acetate from the cigarette filter.

The idea came in 2019 and the company launched in 2022. “I used to work with my father in a building. We were handling glass wool and, as we left the building, there was an open cigarette butt on the floor and, from the look and colour, it immediately reminded me of the glass wool we’d just handled,” one of the founders, Julien Paque, told France 2.

To facilitate collection and encourage smokers to not throw their butts away, they set up special ashtrays in companies, local authorities, and towns in the region.

Once collected, the butts are deposited at the recycling centre. “First we have to remove the ash and the tobacco, then the waste, cigarette packets and the paper”.

They are now ready to be cleaned, and here is where TchaoMégot’s innovation kicks in: a machine that purifies the filters without using water or toxic solvents, but instead uses carbon dioxide. 150,000 butts are then compressed into blocks ready to go through another new recycling process. 

The aim is “to give the material a second life, rather than incinerating it and creating CO₂ on the other side,” added Julien. The company can treat 300 tonnes of cigarette ends a year.

Read more: SEE: Old French skis turned into colourful tables and benches

Quarries to stock rainwater

A new water management project in Ille-et-Vilaine (Brittany) will see several disused quarries transformed into drinking water reserves in order to alleviate summer shortages.

Four or five former shale or granite quarries, closed for years, have been been earmarked in the department. The aim is for the Syndicat mixte de gestion de l’eau (SMG) to buy them, make them safe and store rainwater collected throughout the year, though the water would only be distributed as a last resort when rivers and reservoirs run dry and drinking water is in short supply. 

The SMG estimates that the total capacity of the new natural reservoirs would be between five and six million cubic metres – the equivalent of a month’s consumption for the whole department.

Alpine ski station to close

Inhabitants of the village of Allos, in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department, have voted in favour of stopping downhill skiing in their Seignus winter ski resort. It follows a public consultation, which was launched in early June, on the future of the resort in the face of financial difficulties and global warming. 

Despite 36.4% of Allos residents indicating that they were prepared to pay 30-35% higher local taxes to keep skiing going, 50.1% of the population voted to shut the station de ski. However, overall only 30% residents actually voted.

Climbers’ plea over eagle plans rejected

Climbers in Gens (Ardèche) have lost a court ruling to reintroduce a large bird of prey, Bonelli’s eagle, to the Cirque de Gens beauty spot. 

It follows a decree issued two years ago by the mayor of Chauzon to close climbing routes to protect the site’s birds. Several climbing clubs felt aggrieved by the closure and took the matter to court. The Lyon administrative court rejected their request at the end of May.

“50 years ago,” said the mayor,, “Bonelli’s eagles nested in the immense limestone cliffs of the site.” The eagle certainly left because some climbers were getting too close. It’s a shy animal.”

Read more: White-tailed eagles to return to Lake Léman 130 years after extinction