"If I get sorted, I'll be recycled." This is one of the messages yogurt consumers in France will soon read when they open their pots. The message has been printed on the back of 500 million lids. Launched at the end of February for six months, this vast marketing campaign, dubbed #TriTonPot ("#RecycleYourPot"), is designed to encourage the sorting of used yogurt pots. Syndifrais, the trade organization representing manufacturers of fresh dairy products, like Yoplait, Lactalis and Nestlé, is behind the campaign. "The year 2025 marks a turning point for the sustainability of our packaging. All our pots will become recyclable," said Syndifrais chairman Patrick Falconnier. Behind the publicity stunt, the reality is far more nuanced, as Le Monde's investigation finds.

The recycling of yogurt pots is a long story. For one simple reason: Most of the billions of these pots sold every year in France are made of polystyrene. This material is highly prized by manufacturers. Inexpensive, very light and easily breakable, it makes it easy to detach a yogurt from its batch. But these properties make it particularly difficult to recycle (at best, less than 5% is transformed into coat hangers or flower pots in a factory located in Spain), meaning it often ends up burnt or buried. Worse still, polystyrene fragments account for a third of the plastic waste found on beaches and on the seabed.

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