Manya Rathore
Research expert covering India
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. France has been putting a lot of effort into improving waste collection, sorting, and management infrastructure, with a national expenditure of 21.6 billion euros in 2022. But the second-largest waste-generating country in Europe still has a long way to go.
Although France has made some progress in reducing waste generation and improving recycling rates, the Western European country will need to step things up if it is to stay on track of 2025 EU-targets.
Waste generation
In 2022, total waste generation in France amounted to 345.5 million metric tons, the highest figure recorded in over a decade. That put total per capita waste generation in France at more than five metric tons, slightly above the EU average that year. The construction sector is responsible for the largest volume by far, at roughly 72 percent of total generation that year. Accounting for roughly 10 percent of total waste generation, municipal waste generation in France amounted to 36 million metric tons in 2023 – the majority of which stems from households. Even though this was the lowest figure recorded since 2015, the country’s municipal waste generation saw a mostly upward trend for at least three decades, growing by 22 percent since 2000.Waste management
Around 70 percent of France’s total waste was managed through material recovery operations, including recycling and backfilling, with the high rates mainly driven by the treatment of non-hazardous mineral construction waste. Although France has pledged to ramp up its recycling rate for non-mineral non-hazardous waste faster than prescribed by EU directives – aiming for 55 percent by 2020 and 65 percent by 2025 – it has already partially failed to deliver. France’s municipal waste recycling rate stood at less than 42 percent in 2020, with little improvement recorded in the following three years. In comparison, Germany and Austria boasted some of the highest municipal waste recycling rates in the European Union, at more than 62 percent.A tale of two companies
Despite lagging behind in terms of waste management targets, 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. After many years of fierce competition, Veolia completed the acquisition of most of Suez’s water business in 2022, consolidating itself as the world’s leading environmental services provider. Veolia’s waste segment generates revenue of roughly 15 billion euros per year. Meanwhile, the revenue of Suez’s waste division stood at 5.4 billion euros in 2023.Although France has made some progress in reducing waste generation and improving recycling rates, the Western European country will need to step things up if it is to stay on track of 2025 EU-targets.
