Paper short abstract:

In France as elsewhere the 1970s energy crisis generated an intensive search for ‘alternatives’ to oil. Among other effects, this search enabled incineration to become the dominant waste treatment method. This led to the exclusion of material recycling of waste and deleterious environmental impacts.

Paper long abstract:

In France, during years following the WW2, the incineration of household waste was limited by the need and the will to maintain agricultural recycling of organic residues. In some areas, such as the Paris region, recycling was even enjoying a revival through the industrialisation of traditional uses (composting). Up until the end of the 1960s, this material recycling, which was undoubtedly ecological regarding biogeochemical flows and planetary boundaries, was encouraged by local authorities because of these environmental benefits. In the 1970s, the energy crisis suddenly reversed this situation. Waste incineration in large plants, until then regarded as an expensive technique that was confined to very dense urban areas, was given a big boost allowing it to spread and conquer new territories (the periurban and rural areas) : the energy crisis meant that recovering the energy from destruction by fire became profitable almost everywhere. District heating systems or electricity production based on waste are then encouraged. Public authorities, planners, private companies producing furnaces or plastic waste gathered to structure a huge and powerful 'waste-to-energy' sector. Public subsidies, accommodating legislation and 'ecological' rhetoric and falsifications were produced to support this technical choice. This dynamic had a major adverse effect on environment : it marginalized material recycling, which is just as interesting, if not more so, in terms of energy savings (it avoids the high and expensive energy costs of synthetic fertilizer production or mining, for example). Nevertheless, waste incineration is still praised for this type of energetic "virtues" acquired during this period.