The French (ok, and expat residents of France) produce approximately 880 million tons of trash every year. Wow and yes it’s a problem. During the last 20 years in France, cancers have increased by 35%. (pdf in French). Any relationship there? Yes. According to French studies, 80% to 90% of cancers are caused by the degradation of the environment. There have been commercials on television reminding the citizens of France how much trash they make. I think France was slow to react to the issue but at least now they are taking steps to confront a growing problem. Still, better late than never. It was only in 2002 that France even STARTED sorting and recycling! And even though “recycling” in France (like in other countries) has a slippery, sliding definition, it’s start.

Now I realize why there are so many incinerators in France (at least 133!); they just burned everything (plastics/household trash, the kitchen sink, etc.) releasing its toxic fumes into the air for everyone to breath. They still incinerate but the reduction has turned into a tangential problem (I’ll try to post about that at a later date.) Trash is a problem of colossal proportion that should be a priority in the media but isn’t. Maybe because they’d rather focus on more positive news? It is, afterall, a dirty subject.

I recently met an ex-Parisian woman ordered by her doctor to leave Paris and live in the countryside. She is suffering from thyroid cancer and now lives in a small village in Burgundy. Her granddaughter in Paris, who is 14 years old, also has thyroid cancer and her Parisian sister has died from….thyroid cancer. I asked her how that happened, and she said, “We all lived in Paris where there are too many incinerators and landfills that must be emitting toxic substances.”

Sidenote here: the fallout from the Chernobyl explosion in the ’80s migrated to France (and beyond) and had significant levels of contamination – though in France the seriousness of it was concealed from the public. Millions of people were exposed to radioactive fallout and today there is a tremendous number of French people with thyroid cancer and congenital diseases particularly in Corsica and other parts of eastern France.

Sadly, this kind of story is not an isolated case; it’s becoming increasingly prevalent, but no one really wants to talk about it. Not many are willing to chat you up with some dioxin*, leachate, mercury, and PVC poisoning news. Honestly, I’d never in my wildest dreams imagine we’d be having this conversation but I’m finding myself with little options and alternatives. I have to talk about it: The environment and how we take care of it, has a direct impact on our health. Do you think landfills are simply harmless holes filled with trash? Do you think incinerated plastic does nothing to your health? Next to the strange things in food now, dumps and incinerators, by the mere fact that they are near you, will affect your health as well as the health of the people close to you. [Remember there are 19 incinerators around Paris.]

We went to hear Dany Dietmann, a speaker for environmental activism based in the Alsace area and he’d mentioned that there are so many incinerators in France releasing high amounts of dioxin*, that it diffuses and settles on all of the farms, exposing animals and plants to the cancer-causing toxicity. As a result, they’ve found rising levels of dioxins in France’s coveted wines as well as many, many other foods including meats and produce.

I’m a member of an environmental organization in Burgundy and a few of us took a private tour of a Classe 2** landfill in the Allier region. [I will write a separate post about that later.] After the nauseating tour and observations that they did NOT recycle or even sort the trash, we had a Q&A with the executives of the dump company sent from their Paris headquarters. One of the things said was, “We have NO idea about what people are putting in the trash.” Um. That’s not very comforting particularly when batteries get thrown into the trash, which, gets absorbed into the ground and if it migrates to ground water (this is a common occurence), can potentially pollute an entire body of water. Just one battery alone can contaminate 600,000 liters (158,503 gallons) of water. – and, not to mention the long list of other substances that shouldn’t be there. Some dumps leach poisonous materials that work their way from the ground to a large body of water, like a major river. But get this: This particular dump company also owns a company responsible for cleaning out contaminated waters. Anyone having a light switch on in their head?

Please, try to fight the urge to ignore this subject. This is too important. Because just as with global warming, if you ignore it, it WON’T go away – and like global warming, is getting worse because it’s being ignored. Frankly, I realize that most people don’t want to know anything about it let alone deal with it. I seriously don’t blame them; no one wants to think about it. Give me waste managment talk or talking about watching paint dry, and I’d happily ponder shades of mauve as it dries.

That said, apathy will get you nowhere.

21 Things You Can Do

1. Be informed – Do research about materials (plastics, pesticides, carcinogens, etc) and their effects on the environment; (Try to avoid choosing PVC for home improvement projects!) Find out about dumps and waste management and learn all you can about what is in the trash, where it’s going and what’s in it. This can come in handy especially for people considering looking for property to buy in France (or where ever you are). You obviously don’t want to live close to any kind of landfill or incinerator and always ask your notaire (the property lawyer/agent) to warn you if there are any projects being planned for future dumps or other nasty pollution makers near the area of your prospective property. (They might lie, though.)

2. Become a member of an environmental group in your area – You can search for your regional French Greenpeace group or a smaller, more local effort. There are more and more of these groups being established as France tries to figure out where to put all the trash. If you do not have time to actively participate in a group, consider making a donation to the group. People in these types of organizations do not get paid and monies donated can go a long way in much needed supplies and support.

3. Buy products with minimum packaging and/or leave packaging at store (yes, you can do this!) – I know. Some of your favorite products have humungous packaging and you do not want to give them up. If that’s the case, (if possible) remove the packaging and leave it at the store. You can do this and it will perhaps start a dialogue between distributors/vendors and producers. In France, you can remove the packaging and simply leave it at the counter. Otherwise, you can put the packaging in recycling bins usually located in the parking lots of supermarkets.

4. Buy products made with packaging that is easily recyclable – This is a bit difficult as more and more items have a unrecyclable plastic packaging. Glass, metal and paper packaging are the most renewable kind of material. Note: Most of the plastic, even the piles of plastic in the recycling bins, are incinerated. A good example of this is to buy meat from the butcher directly instead of packaged meats in the markets. Not only is it more fresh that way, it also avoids having to get styrofoam packaging.

5. Write about it – Many environmental issues are swept under the carpet, so if you know about anything, write about it on your blogs, websites, newspapers, books. Submit articles and essays for possible publishing to journals, magazines and newspapers.

6. Contact Government Officials – the power of the public influences politicians to a great degree. They do, afterall, want to 1) stay in government; and/or 2) get re-elected. Sometimes 3) they want to serve the public in a positive way What should you say to them? If you have a specific concern that needs immediate action (hormones in milk, chemicals in food, pesticides, packaging, pollution, radioactive water in cattle’s drinking water, etc.), write about that. Otherwise, point out that environmental priorities will play a crucial role in the health of their public (therefore, the business of public health), the economy, jobs, etc. Track down the physical address to actually send a snail mail and make sure to cc: journalists, and relevant government officials around him/her. You can also meet with officials in-person and bring someone with you who is also very informed, perhaps a scientist, economist, doctor, business people, etc. Note: Make sure you contact the correct government official; the person that will be directly capable of making the change you are requesting. Example, in France, it is the Prefet who is in charge of giving a greenlight to future dumps. If you talk to your mayor, that can help if he goes to the Prefet but it’s just more efficient for you to go to the Prefet directly.

7. Talk about it – Much like #5, this goes one step beyond and is a call for people to try to tell people about it via media other than written media. Get on radio shows and TV talk shows. Team up with experts to spread awareness at schools and universities or conferences.

8. Get other people to write or talk about it – Telephone or contact journalists, bloggers, radio, TV and TV news producers and executives to offer twists and different angles on certain subjects. Get them to spread information.

9. Recycle old clothing, kitchenware, toys etc. – by donating it to homeless shelters, thrift stores, and other community organizations such as Emmaus, L’Armee du Salut, St. Vincent de Paul. Check your local listings in the Pages jaunes. (Please add more that I’ve left out in the comments section or by emailing me. Thank you.)

10. Try not to use cleaning products with harmful chemicals (dangerous to you as well as for the environment. [link: Common Contaminants]

11. Think about the environment when you purchase products – Can it be reused? What kind of material is is made of? Can it be recycled? Does it have a lot of packaging?

12. Use biodegradable bags to clean up after your dogs and for your trash.

13. Advocate and encourage bulk buying programs – so you can purchase larger quantities with less packaging – just like they’ve started in the Auchan in the north of France. Talk to your local grocers. Read this post.

14. Before discarding camera equipment, old tools and other items, ask friends, relatives, neighbors, or community groups if they can use them.

15. Share magazines and newspapers with other people to extend the lives of these items and reduce the amount of waste paper.

16. Place an order through the mail with a group of people in order to save money and reduce packaging waste.

17. If you do absolutely need to use products with hazardous materials (varnishes, removers, glues, etc), use only the amounts needed. Excess amounts can be shared with neighbors or donated to a charity, not-for-profit organization, business, or NGO. Never put leftover products containing hazardous substances in food or beverage containers.

18. Bring a washable mug for water or coffee to work rather than using paper or plastic cups. Try to encourage others to do the same. If there’s a coffee machine that dispenses the coffee one (plastic) cup at a time, consider bringing your own coffee to work or making your own coffee at work.

19. Sort Your Trash – and dispose of it properly. Some cities in France do not offer a pick up for recyclable materials. Please learn where you can take it yourself and make the effort to go there. This hopefully reduces the volume of landfill waste by getting recycled (metals and glass). Some of that (plastics), however (and sadly), will be incinerated or dumped.

20. Compost your kitchen scraps and garden waste – I know, I didn’t want to do this either but I now have a homemade composter in my yard (and regret not having done it years ago), which produces a rich soil packed with nutrients for the garden. If you don’t have a garden because you live in an apartment, you can still have a composter to maybe keep on a balcony, and can later be used as soil for your potted plants. If none of those are possible, still try to separate out your compostables to give to a friend that has a yard with a compost bin or pile. If more people did this small gesture, that would greatly reduce the amount being put in landfills. Some towns in France actually give away free composters so check with your city hall. If they don’t do that, encourage them to do so.

21. Take your old mobile/cellular phones to France Telecom/Orange offices. See this post about it: Recycle your old mobile phones in France.
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* Dioxins are carcinogenic, unwanted byproducts of chemical processes that contain chlorine and hydrocarbons (substances that contain both hydrogen and carbon). There are at least 100 different kinds of dioxins. They are produced by incineration of municipal, toxic, and hospital wastes; paper and pulp bleaching; certain electrical fires; and smelters (plants where metal is extracted from ores). They are also found as a contaminant in some insecticides, herbicides, and wood preservatives. Dioxins are widespread environmental contaminants. They accumulate in fats and break down slowly. A particular dioxin that is likely to be carcinogenic to humans is called TCDD(2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-pdioxin). TCDD is highly carcinogenic in animals, and, in highly exposed workers, increased overall cancer death rates have been reported. The general population is exposed to low levels of TCDD primarily from eating dairy products, fish, and meat, including poultry. [Cancer and the Environment - Nat'l Inst. of Environmental Health Sciences]

** Category 2 Landfills allow everything except radioactive waste. In other words, everything and including hazardous waste they call last resort trash, which can not be recycled or sorted or incinerated. Stored here are household trash and appliances, PVC, batteries, chemicals, hospital waste, tires, etc.

[Resources: Notre Planete (website in French), Déchet ménagers : le jardin des impostures (Book in French) by Dany Dietmann, Les fumées de la colère (in French), CNIID, Dioxine : le meurtre chimique (pdf in French)]