This French act of law contains about 50 measures providing for:

• new obligations with the creation of new producer responsibility sectors to include new product families in the circular economy (toys, sports and do-it-yourself equipment, building materials, cigarette butts, sanitary textiles);
• new prohibitions on single-use plastics and to fight waste of food and non-food unsold products;
• new tools to better control and sanction offences against the environment (greater power for mayors to combat littering and illegal dumping), to support companies in their eco-design initiatives (bonus/malus-type incentives) and to assist citizens in new consumption practices (repairability index, information on environment and health impacts of products, harmonisation of info on sorting, etc.).

After the 2014 elections, the new Roubaix municipality team wanted to change the image of its city and encourage a positive attitude towards both its inhabitants and France as a whole.

The roadmap aims at turning difficulties into advantages, generating a new dynamic. Based on the Sustainable development strategy (since 2003), a zero waste policy is progressively implemented with a focus on cooperation and awareness raising among the stakeholders.

The approach is global, even if some activities are implemented on a micro-scale (budget issue), mostly at the level of a city sub-district (Fresnoy-Mackellerie).

To enable the entire City of Roubaix to experience the transition to a zero waste economy, projects are open and accessible to all categories of population and businesses. This is reflected in the way the projects are designed and co-developed, and how the City communicates about them.

Some concrete solutions are tested on an everyday basis and feedback is already shared with others (zero waste family program, zero waste business label, zero waste festival…).

Generally speaking, the City of Roubaix wants :

1. to have the largest possible audience sharing the zero waste concepts, to match activities that could bring new dynamics into this field and make it happen. The more people share the same values the better;
2. to multiply the interaction at different levels (inhabitants, institutions, businesses) but also to keep a global coherent approach;
3. to minimize the production of waste, by changing consumer’s behaviour, retailer distribution methods and the design and processing used by the companies;
4. to make the remaining and really unavoidable waste enter a circular loop.

The transition towards a circular economy is a key project of the ecological and social transition. The linear model — producing, consuming, discarding — is inevitably leading us towards the depletion of the planet's resources.

We must move towards a different type of economy, where we consume in moderation, where products have a longer lifetime, where we limit waste, and where we are able to transform waste into new resources.

This transition is a genuine societal project whose aim is to move away from the throw-away society. It invites us to change the way we lead our lives and to invent new and more sustainable production and consumption methods. The French roadmap includes four key priority areas: better production, better consumption, better waste management, and engaging all stakeholders.