Warning over fire risk as many in France flout rubbish sorting rules

Refuse collectors are reminding households of the importance of sorting their rubbish after a number of fires at recycling centres in France this year.

Discarded batteries are suspected of having caused at least some of the blazes. 

“We are not going to put you in handcuffs if you get it wrong”, a representative from the Calitom waste management syndicate told a public meeting in Charente, “but making mistakes can be unpleasant for staff who sort recycled rubbish and can damage the machines we use in recycling centres.”

New laws in France have made the sorting of household waste compulsory.

Organic matter should be put in a compost bin and then either composted at home by people who have the means, or put into communal composting facilities now installed in most cities.

Recyclable waste should be put into dedicated bins or bags, which in most parts of the country are denoted by the colour yellow, while rubbish which cannot be recycled is put into separate bins or bags, usually coloured green, blue, pink or brown.

The rubbish from yellow bins is opened and sorted by workers at the refuse depot, both by hand and machine.

Rubbish from non-recyclable bins is taken straight to landfill sites or incinerators.

Among refuse collectors urging more care are those from a sorting centre at Beaune-les-Mines near Limoges (Haute-Vienne).

Staff there said, in particular, that all health and beauty items, including eye make-up removal pads, and cotton ear buds (Q-tips), should be put in non-recyclable bins.

New rubbish sorting rules

France used to have strict rules about recycling food containers with, for example, the metal foil used for some fresh foods and plastic trays for supermarket meat banned.

However, guidance from Calitom says those rules have now changed.

Most metal containers, including coffee machine capsules, tubes, pill cards, cans, foil dishes, bottles and empty aerosol cans can be put into yellow recycling bins.

The organisation now also accepts all plastic packaging for sorting, including yogurt pots, previously banned because of the difficulty separating the two types of plastic they are made from.

Plastic trays, all plastic films, bags used for food, and plastic bottles, including for shampoo and conditioner, are also accepted.

An exception is netting made from polyester and other materials, used to bag some fruit such as oranges. It is not recycled because it easily catches in the sorting machinery.

At the Limoges sorting centre staff say machines usually stop twice a day for cleaning because of netting and other unsuitable items in recycling bins.

As always, batteries, printer cartridges, lightbulbs and electronic goods should be taken to dedicated bins found at most French supermarkets or at local tips.

Both cooking oil and motor oil should also be taken to the déchetterie, where separate tanks are in place for them.

Glass bottles can either be reused at home or put into bottle bins found in nearly every French commune.