This addendum, the second of its kind, highlights the commitment of industry players in the sector to the challenges of ecological transition. It reflects a shared ambition to go further by adapting priorities to the sector's evolutions. The “Waste Transformation and Valorization” sector is a major industrial player in the ecological transition, with nearly 1,500 companies, generating 90,000 jobs, achieving 31 billion euros in turnover, and investing 1.2 billion euros annually. It also represents significant potential in terms of innovation, economic activity creation, industrial development, employment, and sovereignty.
Mathieu Lefèvre praised the commitment of the president of the strategic sector committee and all industrial and institutional stakeholders contributing to structuring this sector and supporting its transformations. The new addendum builds on the results of the first contract, which supported 14 projects related to recovered solid fuels (CSR), designated 14 winners in innovative collection, 3 winners for the robotization of sorting centers, and assisted 12 start-ups. This collaborative approach involves companies in defining priorities and building concrete solutions with public actors.
The agreement sets out ten structuring projects around four main axes: developing the circular industry in France, particularly through alliances between recyclers and industrial users of plastics, metals, and rubber; accelerating the production of local energy from waste that cannot be avoided or recycled; reducing methane emissions from storage facilities; and strengthening safety, attractiveness of professions, and skills, especially to support the adoption of artificial intelligence in collection, sorting, and treatment.
France is also advocating at the European level, within the framework of the Circular Economy Act, proposals aimed at securing industrial outlets for recycled materials. These proposals include supporting demand (notably through incorporation obligations), favoring “made in EU,” and ensuring equivalent sanitary and environmental conditions for materials from waste collected and processed outside the European Union.
