What happens to our yogurt tub once we've thrown it away? In France, new technology makes it easier for citizens to recycle.
Brut Nature followed our waste inside a recycling center. ️
Brut Nature followed our waste inside a recycling center. ️
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NewsTranscript
00:00Hello, welcome to the Sigtum sorting center in Sevran.
00:03I'm going to show you what your packages and papers become
00:05once you've put them in your sorting bin.
00:18So, last March you had a bin that collected on the commune
00:21and which enters the sorting center where it will empty its contents.
00:31The sorting is important because it not only saves energy,
00:34it also saves resources.
00:36The sorted packages are recycled,
00:39so they allow us to produce new packages or new items.
00:51So, here we are in the pre-sorting cabin
00:53where the packaging is prepared before sorting.
00:56This is where everything big and undesirable is removed.
00:59Big and undesirable items can be items that are not packaging
01:03and have nothing to do with packaging,
01:05such as pans, pans,
01:07everything that is metallic but is not packaging.
01:16After the pre-sorting cabin phase,
01:18the first step of mechanical sorting is done in the ballistic crib,
01:21which separates the packaging from the packaging.
01:24The ballistic crib separates two types of material,
01:27the flat bodies, paper, cardboard, cardboard,
01:30the hollow bodies, bottles, cans, cans.
01:33Then the steel and aluminum packaging are separated.
01:39Now, in some communes,
01:41we take into account the pots, baskets and plastic films
01:43in order to first simplify the sorting gesture of the user
01:47and secondly to increase the amount of recyclable and recycled packaging.
01:52The extension of sorting cabinets requires a modernization of the site.
01:56This modernization is mainly a mechanization
01:58and in particular the installation of optical triggers.
02:02So, this is the optical trigger.
02:04In this case, it will separate the papers
02:06that will end up in the sorting cabin
02:09where they will be controlled by the agents.
02:13Optical triggers are machines that,
02:15by emitting light on the packaging,
02:17the scans recognize the type of material.
02:21This is how we separate the different types of plastic
02:24for the hollow bodies
02:25or the different types of paper and cardboard
02:27for the flat bodies.
02:30Hello.
02:31Hello.
02:32At the very beginning, we saw the mixed packaging
02:34arriving in bins.
02:35And here, in fact, in the cabin,
02:36we see the packages separated from each other
02:38and we see the different types of materials,
02:40the papers, the cardboard,
02:42up to the food bricks, in this case, on this carpet.
02:47So, at the end, the sorted papers on the chain
02:49fall into this bin.
02:52And once there is enough quantity,
02:54they will be conditioned into balls
02:55and therefore go into the press
02:57which is located behind me.
03:00Behind me, you have the cardboard balls.
03:04On my left, you have paper balls, in white,
03:07paper that can give back newspaper once recycled.
03:11And in front of me,
03:12we go to the area
03:13where the different types of plastic
03:15are stored.
03:16And in particular, on these first two,
03:18PET and PEHD,
03:20in which there are pots and trays
03:23which are part of the extension of sorting instructions,
03:25so the new instructions for the inhabitants.
03:28And in front of me,
03:29there is also another flow
03:30that was not sorted at all before,
03:31which are the plastic films
03:33and which are now extracted.
03:34Plastic films, in general,
03:35become plastic films or garbage bags.
03:39For PET, it can become bottles
03:42or trays.
03:43The dark PET can give synthetic fibers, clothes.
03:47And if I turn around,
03:48with this one,
03:49which is another type of plastic,
03:51PEHD or PP,
03:54we can make pipes,
03:56water tanks,
03:58garbage bins, etc.
04:10This recycling can be even better,
04:12even optimized,
04:13insofar as it still remains
04:15in the garbage bins of users,
04:1730 to 40% of packaging or paper waste
04:20that does not end up in the sorting bin
04:22and therefore are not recycled afterwards.
04:24From the moment your municipality
04:25enters the sorting instructions extension,
04:28you can put all the papers,
04:29but also all the packaging,
04:31whatever the type of material.