In recent years, the media’s exposure of major retailers’ practices of incinerating unsold new products has stirred public opinion.
The law of February 10, 2020, related to combating waste and promoting the circular economy, sets forth a series of requirements, each implemented at a given deadline. On January 1, 2022, the ban on destroying unsold goods will come into effect.
The implementing decree establishing this measure has not yet been published. However, the Ministry of Ecological Transition promises to release it on January 1, 2022.
The list of product types may evolve by then, but according to the ministry, the product families affected will be those covered by an EPR (extended producer responsibility) regime, namely clothing and footwear, electrical and electronic products, furniture, hygiene and childcare products, food preservation and cooking equipment, toys and leisure products, books, and school supplies. In a second phase, by January 1, 2024, it is planned to prohibit the destruction of all types of products.
Therefore, distributors will first need to donate their unsold goods to anti-poverty associations and social and solidarity economy structures. If that is not possible, as a last resort, they will need to recycle their unsold items.
