Types of exemptions

There are 4 cases in which sorting at source may not be carried out:

1. Small premises (exemption from office paper sorting)
2. Small construction sites (exemption from sorting of construction and demolition waste)
3. Waste recovery directly by the producing company, including waste of plant pruning or pruning
4. Individual derogation from the sorting at source of bio-waste to be burned

1. Small premises (exemption from office paper sorting)

The companies are exempt from the obligation to sort at source papers on each of their settlements with a maximum of 20 people which produce waste office paper (administrative, managerial, sales, engineering, technical, etc.). They must sort their papers through their settlements of more than 20 people, including if any of them are from other companies.

The persons considered to be producing office papers with regard to the exemption from sorting at source of papers are those which occupy functions corresponding to the following socio-professional categories:

• Craftsmen
• Merchants and related parties
• Heads of company with 10 or more employees
• Professions
• Professors, scientific professions
• Information, Arts and Entertainment Professions
• Company administrative and commercial frameworks
• Engineers and technical company executives
• School teachers, teachers and the like
• Intermediate administrative and commercial professions of companies
• Technicians
• Surveillance agents
• Company administrative employees

2. Small construction sites (exemption from sorting construction and demolition waste)

The company is not subject to the obligation to separate construction and demolition waste in each of the following cases:

• He cannot assign, on site, an area of at least 40 m² for the storage of waste.
• Or the total volume of waste generated over the entire duration of the work, regardless of the waste, is less than 10 m³.

It is not necessary to make a declaration to benefit from this exemption.

However, in order to carry out potential checks, it is essential to retain all the relevant elements justifying the absence of the establishment of sorting at source of construction and demolition waste.

3. Recovery of waste directly by the producing company

Any company who valorize she herself has some of her waste of paper, metals, plastics, glass, wood, mineral fractions and plaster shall not be obliged to carry out sorting at source for such waste. This exemption shall apply as long as it does not affect the ability of the waste to be prepared for re-use, recycling or other recovery operations.

The vegetable pruning or pruning wastes which are recovered energetically (e.g. as a fuel) are also not necessarily sorted at source.

4. Individual derogation from source sorting of bio-waste to be burned

Bio-waste with an individual derogation for the purpose of burning them are not necessarily sorted at source. This derogation may concern only invasive plant species, species harmful to human health (e.g. ragweed, processionary caterpillars, etc.) or bio-waste whose destruction is ordered.

Derogations are granted on the condition that there is no effective alternative disposal solution which would guarantee an equivalent level of environmental safety. These derogations shall last for a maximum of one year. They can be renewed upon request. The request for individual derogation must be sent by the company to the prefect the department in which it wishes to burn the bio-waste concerned.

The application must mention :

• The identity and address of the applicant, including the applicant's Siren number for legal persons
• The area concerned by the grubbing-up or felling and the place of the burning
• The reason for the requested derogation
• A justification of the need for burning in relation to other means of treatment
• The bio-waste concerned
• The period of completion of the operation
• The environmental and health safety conditions governing the entire operation, from grubbing-up or slaughter to the treatment of plants

If the burning is ordered by the prefecture, the derogation may be obtained by means of a declaration from the producer or holder of the bio-waste of the start and end of the construction site together with one of the following supporting documents:

• Notification of administrative measures signed by the competent authority
• Formal Analysis Results

General obligation

Waste to be sorted at source must be collected in separate containers. Concretely, each waste must be collected with waste of the same category, without being mixed with other categories of waste.

Of separate waste collection devices the following must therefore be put in place:

• Adapted the various activities carried out in each establishment
• Accessible to staff, in order to enable it to sort waste at source, including waste of everyday products that staff generate (food, packaging, tissues, paper, etc.)

Additional obligations in LES

Companies operating a receiving institution (ERP)producing more than 1,100 liters of waste per week, regardless of waste, separate collection of waste from the public received in the establishment must also be organized. Of separate collection devices must be made available to the public, at least, to separate the following 2 categories of waste:

• Household packaging waste consisting predominantly of plastic, steel, aluminum, paper or paperboard and waste paper and graphic papers, on the one hand
• Bio-waste, on the other hand

In each retail establishment of more than 2 500 m² offering food and mass consumption products, a packaging waste take-up point from products bought in the establishment must be settled at the exit of the boxes.