This bill will discreetly increase for households.
Take your garbage bag, close it and throw it in the gray trash can installed in front of your house. This habitual action is done by tens of millions of French people every day, or almost. However, it is not insignificant, far from it. Because behind it, a whole mechanism for the collection, treatment and incineration of waste is put in place. Above all, this action will cost more and more. Discreetly, but surely.
Every year, everyone pays for household waste collection. Either directly, with a dedicated bill sent by the community or owners to their tenants, or indirectly for many households since this expense is still mostly included in the amount of property tax. While there are no national rates for this service (they are decided locally), there is a general trend that no one can deny: increases in bills are coming, in two different ways.
First of all, with the increase in property tax. Every year, the calculation base for this tax increases, little by little. In 2024, it will be at least 3.9% more. From this amount, the communities that manage the collection and treatment of waste – generally the agglomerations/communities of communes – deduct a percentage, indicated in the “Household waste tax” column of your property tax notice.
If the rate remains fixed from one year to the next, the increase in the calculation base automatically leads to an increase in the bill paid for household waste. This could even increase if the community decides, in addition, to increase the share it recovers. A household that paid €200 for its trash in 2023 will pay, at leastfrom €207.80 this year.
But that’s not all. For several years, the payment for waste collection has been changing and another form of billing has been put in place. It is already effective for more than 6 million French people: paying according to the waste that one produces. This is called the Incentive Fee or the Incentive Household Waste Removal Tax.
The principle is simple: households pay an annual amount that includes unlimited collection of yellow, green and glass bins. On the other hand, for the grey bin (all waste that cannot be sorted), only a few emptyings are included (generally 12 per year). Additional ones are billed in addition to the package. And this can climb to around €10 each time in some communities.
This system is set to expand since the ambition is for 25 million people (initially by 2025) to be subject to this billing system. It is therefore better to sort your waste diligently because the grey bin is only supposed to contain the household waste remaining after sorting. If you do not do it correctly, you will fill this bin, take it out more often and, therefore, pay accordingly.