By the end of 1994, ten million people in France will be covered by Eco-Emballages SA (71, Avenue Victor Hugo, F-75116 Paris), the company set up to organise the recycling and reprocessing of packaging waste, according to director Eric Guillon. Established to work in conjunction with the local authorities in the development of selective sorting of packaging waste, E-E is budgeting FF 600m this year for new contracts with local authorities (five new contracts plus five contracts for projects) and is further investing FF 100m in the existing 37 pilot and four operating sites.

Guillon reports that the targets for 1993 were met: 4025 companies are now members (contributing FF 400m in levies) and the total could well reach 8,000 in 1994 (contributing FF 550m). Contracts to deal with material recovered from waste have now been signed with five industries: plastics – via Valorplast SA (Cedex 99, F-92909 Paris La Defense) –, glass/ceramics, aluminium, paper/board and steel.

During 1994, Eco-Emballages also plans to set up a discussion committee through the Association of French Mayors and is earmarking FF 30m for underwriting the price per tonne of sorted material, provided that it meets, or comes close to meeting, minimum technical specifications. A further FF 21m expenditure is being budgeted for information programmes aimed at the general public.