Bruna Alves
Research lead covering environment and sustainability
Waste management in France - statistics & facts
France’s waste management sector has a lot of room for improvement. In June 2023, the European Commission warned the country – along with 17 other EU Member States – that they were not on track to reach EU-wide waste recycling targets. Waste reduction efforts, as well as recycling rates, have stagnated in recent years. Although below the EU average, France ranked 12th in total waste generation per capita in 2020, at 4.6 metric tons.
When it comes to plastic, the situation in France is even more dire. While the EU has set a plastic packaging recycling target of 50 percent by 2025, France’s plastic packaging recycling rate stood at just 23 percent in 2021, even dropping in comparison to 2010. The government has announced a series of new directives in recent years, in order to boost its waste management process and foster a circular economy, including the call for a 100 percent recycling rate of single use plastics by 2025.
Waste generation and recycling
In 2021, a record high of more than 38.2 million metric tons of municipal waste was generated in France. The country’s municipal waste generation has been on a mostly upward trend for at least three decades, growing by 22 percent since 2000. While France has pledged to ramp up its recycling rate faster than prescribed by EU directives – aiming for 55 percent by 2020 and 65 percent by 2025 – it has already partially failed to deliver. In 2020, its municipal waste recycling rate stood at less than 42 percent. The following year saw the highest rate recorded thus far, but it was still below 45 percent. In comparison, Germany and Austria boasted some of the highest municipal waste recycling rates in the European Union, at more than 62 percent.When it comes to plastic, the situation in France is even more dire. While the EU has set a plastic packaging recycling target of 50 percent by 2025, France’s plastic packaging recycling rate stood at just 23 percent in 2021, even dropping in comparison to 2010. The government has announced a series of new directives in recent years, in order to boost its waste management process and foster a circular economy, including the call for a 100 percent recycling rate of single use plastics by 2025.
A tale of two companies
France is home to two of the largest waste management companies in the world, namely Veolia and Suez. Both companies operate in the segments of water supply and treatment, waste management, and energy production. In 2022, years of fierce competition came to an end, as Veolia completed the acquisition of most of Suez’s water business. That year, Veolia saw its revenue grow 52 percent year-over-year, with the waste segment generating nearly 16 billion euros. Meanwhile, the revenue of Suez’s waste division stood at 3.6 billion euros.
