So we all believe our waste plastics are recycled, I bet if we knew the real truth it would shock us.
It seems that the local council here in Vire have invented a system which makes entirely redundant the rubbish bag section of the shops. There are no sack/bags in those displays that are acceptable.
I guess the exceptions would be bags/sacks which you take to the dechet and deposit in the appropriate skip, like garden waste [if you don’t have a composter] or building rubble - taking the bags away with you.
General household rubbish, pretty much all and everything except food waste, goes into these yellow sacks. Plastic/metal/paper/carboard/cartons various. Empty but not cleaned. All will be sorted and recycled.
They say …
Food and garden waste goes in composters provided or small bins that are to be lined with …
The w.p.b’s/ misc poubelles you may have dotted about the house - bathroom, bedroom etc - must be lined with another council bag, only available from La Mairie. It’s transparent so they can clock what’s in it. I think it may have to go into a yellow sac - not sure.
The bags, yellow and transparent,are only available from La Marie. The theory being they can monitor turnover/usage.
We used to have that system in my old commune, they probably do still do it. Each year every houseowner/renter would have to go to the village hall on one day for three consecutive weeks to register and be given sufficient recycling sacks for a year and any further required, only to be had from the mairie who logged each demander’s name in a book. Trouble was that the main collection bins around the commune were soon full as so much was recyclable that people just left the yellow sacks lying on the ground for which animals would rip open due to the smells of unwashed tins,cartons etc. All other household waste would go in the normal black sacks and private/public wheelie bins to be collected twice weekly