Managing the waste, a French model sets the standard

Faced with the risk of being buried under our own waste if nothing is done, the need to find effective solutions that are acceptable to all, producers and consumers alike, is becoming urgent. Initially necessary, the organisation of collection and recycling is no longer sufficient in the face of the incessant increase in the quantity of end-of-life products. The principle of responsabilité élargie du producteur (extended producer responsibility) therefore aims to reduce these flows by encouraging manufacturers to incorporate the concepts of sustainability, reparability and reuse into their new products, right from the design stage. The anti-waste law for a circular economy published in 2020 is now the reference framework for this original French approach, which is part of a wider European dynamic.