One million tonnes of litter dumped in France in 2020
The amount was almost double that of two years before, a new NGO report claims. Roadside areas are the worst affected with lockdown takeaway rubbish adding to the problem
A million tonnes of waste was estimated to have been littered across France in 2020, with roadside rubbish especially bad
Natalya Kokhanova / Shutterstock
One million tonnes of rubbish was left strewn illegally across France in 2020, a new NGO report has found, a figure that has doubled in the past two years. Roadsides are especially cluttered, it said.
The new estimate by the NGO Gestes Propres (‘Clean/Right Actions’) found that a million tonnes of waste had been illegally littered in the countryside or public places across France last year, twice as many as in 2018.
In 2018, the NGO – which works closely with the Ecology Ministry – counted 520,000 tonnes of rubbish in public places, just under half of last year’s figure.
Carole Carpentier at Gestes Propres told Le Parisien: “Littering means everything from cigarette butts thrown out of windows, cans thrown out of bins, to bulky items abandoned on the pavement or mattresses left at the bottom of buildings.”
A rubbish collector from the City of Paris added that the issue does not only exist in big cities but also “in small villages, where sometimes workers empty their rubbish or [construction] rubble at the edge of a field”.
And while the Covid pandemic and lockdowns meant that there was less litter in tourist places, roadside areas across the country were still badly affected, said Gestes Propres.
A total of 78,000 tonnes of rubbish was found along roadsides, in comparison to 10,000 tonnes found in waterways, 660 tonnes along beaches, and 450 tonnes on ski slopes.
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The NGO said: “Even though road use dropped over lockdown, takeaway consumption rose sharply, and so did their associated litter.”
A recent survey found that littering is relatively common, with over a quarter (27%) of people in France admitting to having left waste on the ground before, Ms Carpentier said, citing polls by Ifop from 2020 and 2021.
The NGO has suggested a three-pronged approach in a bid to improve the issue, and in the same polls asked the public whether they would be in favour of the moves.
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Harsher sanctions against litterers (54% in favour)
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More educational measures (23% in favour)
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Better collection methods (25% in favour)
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