1. Background. General situation

Over the past decade, the treatment of waste of all kinds has become a major concern, spurred on by the legislator and in particular by the new national and European regulatory framework for packaging waste. This concern has been backed up by a vast grass-roots movement of ecological sensitivity, which has raised awareness of the need to deal with waste. Among these, plastic waste represents a very significant source, spread from the industrial sector (synthesis of plastics, manufacture of various products and objects) to the consumer level, via the various distribution and marketing networks. As we shall see later, this widely dispersed source of waste is one of the major difficulties in recycling. Faced with this situation, considerable progress has been made since 1992, both in terms of waste collection and in terms of technical developments in waste treatment. It's worth pointing out...