According to a report by VINCI Autoroutes, the French continue to throw their rubbish out of the window on the road to their holidays.
This is an observation we could have done without. The French are paying less and less attention to their waste on the road to their holidays. According to a report by the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation, for the past 3 years, more than a quarter of motorists on the road to their holidays have thrown their rubbish out of their car window. But above all, they are less and less aware of the ecological risks that this entails.
Fly-tipping is more common among young people
As in 2022 and 2023, 27% of French people say they throw their waste out the window while driving on the holiday motorway. Worse still, among those under 35, the figure reaches 40%. Most of it is organic waste, such as an apple core for example, but it can also be paper packaging or even plastic bottles and cans. However, each motorway service station has several bins to properly throw away and sort your rubbish. Theoretically, a motorist can therefore stop every 10 minutes of travel to empty his car of all the impurities. The fault, therefore, is capricious impatience.
Every day, 25 tons of litter are collected by highway workers along the highways. And among the worst are cigarette butts. According to the study, 24% of smokers throw their cigarette butts out of their car windows. Often still lit or not properly extinguished, they can, in addition to polluting the environment, cause devastating fires or forest fires. A practice that should be banned once and for all.
Ecological awareness forgotten on the road to vacation
In addition to the impatience of having to wait to stop to throw away their waste, the French who sometimes have this kind of behavior on the road to their vacations think that it is not serious. According to 39% of them, it decomposes quickly and does not disrupt biodiversity. However, a simple paper handkerchief takes 3 months to completely decompose in nature and therefore, of course, pollutes the environment. A cigarette butt takes two years to disappear. However, overall, the French say that the vast majority of them are concerned about environmental issues.
It is not only the ecology that can be disturbed by waste on the road. It can also cause accidents, especially with workers responsible for collecting it or with other motorists.
To try to limit this behavior, the VINCI Autoroutes Foundation is distributing a new campaign awareness campaign since July 18. You will be able to find posters this summer on the road to your vacation in all the rest areas of the VINCI network. The first piece of advice we can give you is to take a small bag that will act as a trash can in your vehicle until you stop at a motorway rest area. And if you are a smoker, take a pocket ashtray with you.
Source: www.autoplus.fr
