Anti-Waste and Circular Economy Law

In the developmental stages of creating the initial proposal for the anti-waste law, French law and policy makers worked closely with environmental agencies to create a comprehensive, all-encompassing approach. As reported by the French non-profit donation agency "L'Agence du Don en Nature", "630 million euros of products are destroyed each year, i.e. equivalent to 7 times the sum received for the Téléthon 2018".[8][9]

This section covers the phased approach to reducing the use of disposable plastic until it is no longer used or produced in France.[10] With these efforts, disposable plates, containers and utensils at fast-food restaurants will be replaced with reusable, more sustainable options.[11] Disposable tableware includes both single-use plastic and cardboard items. As of Jan. 1, 2023, restaurants must serve dine-in customers with reusable tableware. Furthermore, there will be a prohibition on using the word "biodegradable" on product packaging due to "lack of scientific consensus".[9] Additional product bans include the following:

• Polystyrene boxes (as of Jan. 2021)
• Plastic tea-bags (as of Jan. 2022)
• Plastic toys often provided with a children's menu (as of Jan. 2022)
• Plastic confetti (as of Jan. 2021)
• Importation of plastic bags (as of Jan. 2021)
• Plastic wrap on produce (as of Jan. 2022)

Informing consumers of the sustainability, repairability and recyclability of the products they purchase is a vital piece of the anti-waste law.[10] The law posits that better informed consumers will make better environmentally friendly decisions when it comes to what they purchase.[9] Electronic products being manufactured and sold in France must provide a repairability index that assesses the following categories of a product: documentation, disassembly, availability of spare parts for the product, price of spare parts, and product-specific aspects.[12][13] "Each criterion is scored on 20 points and each number is then compiled into an aggregate score out of 100, which is then divided by 10 and rounded to 1 decimal digit to make the final grade."[12][14]

The law also strictly prohibits the destruction of unsold goods – something many manufacturers and businesses have been accused of doing in recent years. This applies to food products, textile products and hygiene products[9] and will be enacted in a staged approach between 2021 and 2023. France's robust recycling system was given an update with the anti-waste law being passed. Now, as of January 2023,[11] French residents can recycle any product that comes in plastic packaging in the yellow bins provided throughout France and not have to worry about sorting things themselves.[15] Similarly to the section on consumer information, this section also urges consumers to reuse and repurpose older products in order to reduce waste as much as possible.[16]

The vast majority of this section covers the policy referred to as the "polluter pays" – this implies that producers will be fined for illegal and improper disposal of waste.[17] Instead of making companies simply pay a fine, there is also a five-year-plan aspect that companies must complete in addition that covers how they will avoid issues like this in the future.

The law reads that: "Every five years, the producers subject to polluter pays schemes will have to draw up a prevention and eco-design action plan for their products so that they contain more recycled material and are more recyclable on the national territory. Provision is made for PRO – producer’s responsibility organizations to be able to facilitate the drawing up of these plans whose implementation will remain in the hands of producers."

The section covering "wild deposits" is a continuation of improper waste disposal. Environmental pollution is the issue that these articles aim to address by detailing the legal ways that manufacturers can dispose waste and where it should be done. To avoid greenwashing and similar false advertising, Articles 93 through 106 also place further guidelines on when companies can use terms like "biodegradable", "environmentally friendly", and "compostable".[18]

The law has several measurable goals and milestones to track the law's process since implementation. A main goal of the policy is to cut back on waste on an individual household scale and as an economy. The measurable statistics France's government is looking for are a "15% decrease in household trash per inhabitant by 2030" and "a 5% decrease in waste from economic activity".[19][17]

By 2025, the law posits that the country's population will be recycling "100% of plastics" and will "end the use of single-use plastic packaging by 2040".[19] "In 2021, it is prohibited to use straws, single-use cutlery, plastic stirrers, styrofoam boxes at fast-food restaurants, and free distribution of plastic bottles in businesses".[17] As of 2022, it is illegal to sell produce in plastic packaging if the portion is under 1.5 kilograms and "public buildings must have a public water fountain".[17] "In 2023, fast-food restaurants will no longer be allowed to use disposable plates and cups for on-premise consumption of food and beverages."[19]

The ban on selling "medical devices containing microplastics"[20] will be enacted in January 2024.

• The requirement of microfibre filters in new washing machines to filter out the fibres before going into water supply.[20]
• Newspapers, magazines, and hard-copy publications will not be shipped in plastic wrapping post-production.
• Medical centers will be banned from using plastic containers to prepare baby food "to prevent exposure to endocrine disruptors".[20]

"France will ban the sale of cosmetic products that contain microplastics – such as shampoos, hair colouring products, shower gels and makeup removers."[20]