Nos poubelles valent de l’or ! - C'est pas sorcier [Intégrale]

Oh, Jamy, this party was really great! So, what's going on? Well, I've just started tidying up. Okay. No! You should know! You can't throw all the trash in the same bin. You have to sort them out. Sissi, come with me. I'll show you how it's done. Come on, Marcel, let's go! Inject society! Hey, Sabine, can you help me, please? Jamy, I told you, you have to sort them out. The glass bottles go in the white-covered bin. The packaging, like the plastic bottles. The tin boxes. The egg boxes go in the yellow-covered bin. And the rest of the trash? In the green bin. The bin with residual household waste. Oh, I get it. Don't move. I have a bottle of oil and a jar of yogurt left. It's plastic. It's in the yellow bin. No! It's in the green bin. It's soiled plastic. Too greasy. Difficult to wash. So, difficult to recycle. Where are you going? I'm going to make a list. And now, I'm taking out the trash. Come on. Today, sorting out waste has become a daily reflex for 3 out of 4 French people. The problem is that this sorting is not always very well done. Here, look, what was I saying? Ah, this Jamy. You have to separate the elements from each other. And in the same way, don't leave anything wrapped in a plastic bag. It greatly complicates the work of the people employed in the waste treatment centres. Ah, here's the Ben truck. You'll understand. Follow me. Well, have a good trip, Sabine. The problem of waste does not date from yesterday. In the 19th century, each Parisian threw on average 200 grams of waste per day. To deal with the sorting of waste, in 1883, a prefect, Monsieur Poubelle, invented the bin. He even made it compulsory for Parisians to sort their waste. But the sorting quickly fell into oblivion and the discharges began to overflow. The European Union then imposed on each state to sort its waste. In France, it is the mayors of each municipality who decide whether or not to put the sorting in place. And a little less than a fifth of French people still don't sort. Since 1992, industrialists have had to finance the elimination of their packaging. They then wear this little logo. Be careful, this does not necessarily mean that the packaging is recyclable, but that the industrialist pays for its treatment. We are here at the Ivry-sur-Seine sorting centre. Every day, Ben trucks unload 150 tonnes of waste into this pit. But be careful, only the packaging, the contents of our yellow bin. From this pit, look, the packaging is dragged by a rolling mat to the sorting chain. And up there, it's hard work. First, a sorter removes the boxes and big objects that could block the sorting chain by hand. The packaging then goes on a vibrating table to be rid of their dust, capsules and all the small debris of glass. Then a big magnet recovers all the iron packaging. The others go on an inclined table that separates them according to their shape. The papers and bricks go on one side, the plastic bottles and cans on the other. But that's not enough, they still have to refine the sorting by hand. If you've sorted your waste wrong, it's even harder work. The packaging is then grouped by major categories and compacted. And that gives huge cubes that are called balls. And that's it. So, depending on their content, the balls will then be sent to specialised factories where they will be recycled. With plastic, for example, we can make polar fibres that we find in my hat, my scarf or my vest. What do you think, Jamy? How many plastic bottles for this polar vest? 25, 26, 27. 27! Hey! That's a lot! And that's not all. With transparent plastic, bottles of water or soda, we can make not only polar fibres, but also burrs, for example, for pillows or duvets, among other things. With opaque plastic, milk bottles or cleaning products, we can make, for example, pipes for sewers, flower pots, big flower pots, and cans. And if we recycle, Jamy, it's to save energy. Absolutely. To make synthetic fibre, for example, there are two solutions. The first is to use raw oil, which means extracting it, transporting it, refining it, transforming it. In other words, a lot of energy. The second solution is to use recyclable plastic, which means collecting it, sorting it, transforming it. In these conditions, one, we save raw oil, and two, we spend five times less energy. And my scooter, Jamy, is made of recycled aluminium. To make it, we used 234 cans. By recycling aluminium, we also save a lot of energy. This metal is produced from bauxite, an ore that must be extracted and transformed. This operation requires a lot of energy in the form of electricity. Recycling simply requires collecting, sorting, and reforming aluminium. We spend 20 times less energy. So, saving energy is good. What is better is that by recycling, we protect our planet. Indeed, to produce energy, we reject greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide, for example, which retains heat. Well, by recycling paper, iron, aluminium, and plastic, we avoid rejecting each year in the atmosphere the equivalent of what a city of 650,000 inhabitants rejects each year. Jamy, I have a problem with your pair of sneakers. First, they had nothing to do with the yellow bin. It's a sorting error. Then, we can't recycle them. So, what do I do? Unfortunately, recycling has its limits. To recycle this sneaker, for example, we have to separate the different components. The fabric, the plastic, the glue. At the moment, all these operations are too expensive. We prefer to discharge this sneaker or burn it. Same thing with some packages. The yoghurt jars, for example. The material is recyclable. Only, we have to wash the yoghurt jar. And we consume water. The game is not worth the candle. On the other hand, we can recycle the wipes. In some communes, the inhabitants have an additional bin to put their organic waste. They go there to collect the green waste, like the branches or the grass, in composting centres. All of this becomes a kind of compost, which is spread over the fields. But be careful! There are wastes that you absolutely must not throw in your bin, like the batteries. These are toxic wastes, because they contain heavy metals. When they are used, the merchants are forced to take them back. They are then sent to special centres where they are separated into different metals. And with our old batteries, we are going to make tool handles, for example. So, change of scenery. Here, the trucks no longer unload the packages, but the household waste, the wipes, the leftovers, the yoghurt jars. But remember, this is the content of our green bin. This is also where the waste dumps land, like our pair of sneakers. All these wastes that cannot be recycled will be burned, incinerated. So, with this huge scraper, we start by brushing the wastes to mix them well, so that they burn more easily. Then, we grab a piece of furniture, a piece of 3 to 4 tonnes, and then we go to the oven. But I have to make a little announcement. I'm not the one driving the scraper. It's Christian. Fortunately. This huge distinct, in its entirety, is the oven. Through this hatch, we will be able to observe the house. Look! A little bit of compressed air to chase away the ashes. And there you have it. The wastes burn between 850 and 1,200 degrees. There are two ovens here, among the largest in the world, that run 24 hours a day, and that, in total, destroy 100 tonnes of waste per hour. But nothing is lost. Come with me. Here, between the two ovens, we have a turbo alternator, a giant dynamo, if you prefer, that recovers the heat released by the combustion of the wastes and produces electricity. Let's go back. The wastes are burned. Under the effect of heat, the water that circulates in these pipes is transformed into steam. Then, the steam under pressure is channeled to a turbine that it drives, and the turbine itself drives an alternator. In other words, thanks to the combustion of the wastes, we produce electricity, which allows us to meet the needs of the incinerator, the rest being resold to the EDF network. The steam is then recovered, condensed, and once it has become liquid again, the water can go back into the circuit. Sometimes, it even happens that part of the steam is directed to the urban heating network. The steam then circulates in serpentines, it heats the water of a secondary network, which then feeds the radiators of the houses, and all this by burning our waste. Not bad! The problem, Jamy, is that an incinerator is a very, very expensive installation, and some municipalities do not have the means to equip themselves. So what do they do with their household waste? Tops? Pats? Balls? When there is no incinerator, the waste is discharged. Class 2 discharge. But be careful! Today, discharges meet very strict standards. First, a field is chosen away from the free-attic tables. You know, this kind of natural sponge that constitutes underground water tanks. Then, an alveolus is dug. Then, a layer of clay is placed to waterproof the site. To make sure that there is no infiltration, a plastic membrane is added and a layer of sand is spread. Finally, wells are built to recover unwanted substances. Indeed, once finished, it sometimes takes months, even years, to fill an alveolus because of the rain and the degradation of organic waste. Well, liquid degoutants, lixivias, accumulate at the bottom of the alveolus. Well, thanks to wells, we will be able to recover these lixivias and treat them before throwing them back into nature. And that's not all! Once the alveolus is full, it is covered with a layer of clay. Inside, bacteria continue to degrade organic waste, which causes the formation of methane, an explosive gas. Well, thanks to wells, we will be able to recover this gas and avoid explosions. So, either we burn it directly after the alveolus is out, or it is recovered and used as fuel for thermal power plants that will produce electricity. So, Jamy, between incineration, recycling and discharging, we're getting a bit lost. Can you give us a little summary? You're right, Sabine. Don't throw it away and let's get to the point. So, in France, of all household waste, 46%, a little less than half, is discharged. 35% is incinerated and used as electricity. 7% is transformed into compost. And finally, 12% have a second life because they are recycled. Class II discharges are installed away from cities because they can remove odours and attract birds. Sometimes rivers are opposed to their installation, so some small towns may one day no longer know where to put their waste. In any case, discharging is essential and will remain essential for another 50, 60, 100 years. There will always be a need for discharging. The issue is to make sure there is less waste that goes into discharging. Incinerators reduce the volume of waste, but the waste disposal systems cost a lot. So it's more profitable for the large agglomerations that generate a lot of waste. The city of Marseille produces a lot of waste and yet it still doesn't have an incinerator. Every day, thousands of tonnes of waste are disposed of in a gigantic discharge without protection. It benefits for the moment from a discharge while waiting to be permanently closed. Incinerators! After being burned in the ovens above our heads, household waste hasn't completely disappeared. What remains are what we call iron mashes. These are the debris that resisted the combustion of burnt waste. We get 250kg of iron mash. And yet we have to sort it. Follow me! With a huge magnet, we extracted from the iron mash all the iron that contained the tin boxes for example. All this iron was then recycled. As for the iron mash that was removed from the iron mash, it will be analysed. If it contains a lot of heavy metals, you know, these small particles of copper, zinc, nickel that are harmful to the environment, this iron mash will be deposited in a class 2 discharge. If it doesn't contain heavy metals, then we will use it to make roads. Jamy, I think about it. There is no fire without smoke. The smoke from the combustion, are you sure it's clean? Well, no, precisely. The smoke contains acid gases. Chlorhydric acid, in particular, and heavy metals like lead that settle on dust. These are toxic products that absolutely need to be removed. How? Heavy metals, first of all. On the passage of the smoke, we placed an electric barrier. By crossing this electric field, the dust will charge electrically. Concretely, some will gain electrons. These are tiny electric particles. It is said that these dusts are charged negatively. Others, on the other hand, will lose electrons. It is said that these dusts are charged positively. Above, two terminals, one positive that lacks electrons, the other negative that has too many. Then, well, it's like a mind game. The dusts charged negatively stick to the positive terminal. The dusts charged positively stick to the negative terminal. Thus, we get rid of dusts, so heavy metals. What remains is the acid cloud. On their passage, the smoke is also aspergated by hot water. A little experiment. When we put hot water with vinegar, acid, like smoke, well, look, a white precipitate forms at the bottom of the test tube. Little by little, water is rid of hot water and acid. Well, the same phenomenon occurs in chimneys. Thanks to hot water, smoke is rid of acid. All right, Jamy, but then, what do we do with these acids? Well, the water that cleanses the smoke is decanted. The dusts are collected and stored in specialized waste. The same thing happens with ashes. They are detached from the electrodes and stored in the same waste. Hey, Jamy, among all your pollutants, didn't you forget to mention dioxin by chance? Ah, dioxin, if we could forget it. This pollutant is formed from 300°C when you burn all organic waste and plastic, for example. Fortunately, as soon as the temperature reaches 600°C, a good part of it disappears. That's why today all incinerators must necessarily heat beyond this temperature. The problem is that despite this precaution, there is still a little left. That's why some incinerators are already equipped with dioxin traps. Just be careful, by 2005, a new standard will impose on all incinerators to equip themselves with this type of dioxin trap so that there are only a few traces of dioxin left in the smoke. Until 2000, small incinerators were not subject to any control. Gili Surizer's incinerator spit out 700 times more dioxin than the authorized standard This pollutant concentrates in animal fats, milk for example, and reaches humans. In a neighboring village, 78 cases of cancer and the incinerator was put into question. The difficulty is to define when the dose will have a visible impact on the population and trigger In the operation of Gili Surizer, we are not totally convinced that the effects are only attributable to the incinerator. Precaution, the government closed in 2002 all small incinerators that were not up to standard. And with the new European regulation, the traces of dioxin present in the smoke should no longer pose a health problem. Now, at the exit of our incinerator, the ashes and cakes from the smoke are taken by truck to a special a first-class for dangerous Here, we will also find some waste from metallurgy or industries. But be careful, high security at its arrival, the truck goes between two terminals charged to detect radioactivity. And yes, never too careful. And that's not all. Hop there, you have something for me, I think. Thank you. Thank you very much, sir. And yes, we take a sample of the load to know precisely the nature of the products stored. Then, come with me. The trucks, you see, are brought to these gigantic silos in which they pour their contents. Here, the ashes and other residues will be mineralized, that is to say, transformed into solids whose mixture has a kind of cement to which water is added. The goal is to obtain at the end a concrete in which the ashes are trapped. This operation is called stabilization. Once stabilized, the waste, look, are finally unloaded on the storage site where they will end their lives. A huge site of 43 hectares, cut, look, in alveoli that are filled one after the other, layer after layer. There are here 30 meters of stabilized products. That's not bad, Tell me, are you sure there is no risk of pollution? No risk for toxic products to escape? The zero risk does not exist. Only, you have to imagine that the ashes are trapped here inside a cement which, once dry, is very hard. So, of course, there can always be cracks. Water can infiltrate and lead toxic particles to the bottom. It's true. Only, we must not forget that the bottom of the alveolus is covered with a plastic membrane and that wells allow to capture the water that accumulates there. With this water, we will make cement again. And even if the membrane would tear, well, you still have to go through a layer of clay. And under the clay layer, well, there is no phreatic map. Finally, when the alveolus is full, well, we close it with another plastic membrane and a layer of clay. And we watch this alveolus for 30 years. Hey, Sabine! What about Marcel's old computer? What do I do with it? Can we recycle it? Yes, Jamy! Look! We are starting to see recycling lines appear for electronic waste. Here, we treat 6,000 tons of computers per year. We mistreat them, I should say, because we start by boning them. The plastic parts go to recycling. We isolate this element called deflector to recover the copper parts. Watch out! The electronic circuit is very important. Here, we are going to recover precious metals like gold, silver or palladium. But you need at least 30 tons of electronic card to get a kilo of gold. The screens contain very toxic luminescent powder. You must absolutely recover it and put it in a class 1 or 2. Your cell phones also contain dangerous products for the environment. Yet, several hundred million devices are thrown into the world without being treated. But now, in Europe, a directive requires all our electronic or electrical waste to be collected and recycled. For every purchase of a new device, stores have the obligation to take back your old device and send it to a recycling line. These operations are financed by consumers who pay a co-participation tax It ranges from 10 cents for a cell phone to 13 euros for a refrigerator. On an old fridge, recycling requires special equipment because it contains harmful gases for the ozone layer. What are you doing, Amina? Well, I'm looking for gold. You said it, the little voice. There is gold in our trash cans. Just be careful. Before we got there, we had to organize the waste collection, we had to hire skilled workers to sort them out, we had to build factories and machines to recycle them and all that costs a lot. Very expensive. Expensive. But how much, Jamy? How much does the waste collection cost? Let's take the example of a city of 100,000 inhabitants. Each year, it produces 42,500 tons of waste. To get rid of it, it will have to add the cost of collecting the waste, that is 90 euros per ton of waste plus the cost of sorting and discharging that is 60 euros per ton of waste. In other words, a total of 150 euros per ton of waste. Ah yes, but at the same time, recycling makes up for it. Don't dream. It's not the golden goose. Let's say that this city recycles 20% of its waste. Well, recycling will make up 3 euros per ton of waste. That's not all. And that packaging helps municipalities to finance the collection and sorting. And that packaging is an organism that is financed by the industrialists and the products that the industrialists carry this little logo. So, for a city that recycles well like this one, eco-packaging will finance up to 30 euros per ton of waste. Let's do the math. 150 minus 33 equals 117. This municipality will have to pay 117 euros per ton of waste. So, in the end, it's the taxpayers who pay the bill as a tax on household waste. Just be careful, it's the city that sets the amount of this tax. Also, some unscrupulous municipalities don't hesitate to pay a tax whose amount is higher than the amount of waste treatment. Oh, Sabine! Yes, Jamy? Now that we've bought everything we bought, maybe we should think about filling up, shopping, I mean. Shopping. And it's your turn. Are you sure? Jamy, I've already emptied the trash cans today. Oh, I'm fine, don't worry. And don't forget the shopping list! Oh, I know it by heart. OK, we'll see about that. In fact, in order to have less packaging waste, there's a solution. Here, when you throw a party, for example, instead of buying small packets of crisps that will make a lot of packaging, well, you buy big packets of crisps. You didn't forget the products for laundry or cleaning. Cleaning. Yes. Cleaning, well, I'm only thinking about that. And by the way, it's exactly the same thing. Instead of throwing away the old bottle and buying a new one, well, you have to think about the refill. And one last tip. Once everything is done and we've paid, well, instead of using plastic bags, I use my Kaba. And you don't feel that your Kaba is a bit small compared to the contents of the package, Jamy? Really, you think? But I thought it was the same for parties. Instead of making lots of small ones, we can make a huge one!