The 2026 Tour de France produced an estimated 700 tonnes of waste (about 1.5 million pounds), roughly the weight of 55 city buses, across its three weeks and 21 stages from Barcelona to Paris.
That counts the rubbish left along the route and in the host towns, plus the single-use giveaways from the race's famous publicity caravan. It leaves out the far larger carbon footprint from fans travelling to watch, which is covered below.
The Tour now sells itself as a race cleaning up its act, with a green-jersey drive and a 40% cut in its carbon footprint since 2013. Yet its publicity caravan alone throws more than 18 million single-use items into the crowd, and the race still leaves around 700 tonnes of waste behind.
How much waste each stage of the 2026 Tour leaves behind
The Tour's waste is not spread evenly. Each stage draws a different crowd, and the crowd is what makes the rubbish. A quiet flat stage through farmland is a world away from the mountain-top finish at Alpe d'Huez, where hundreds of thousands camp out for days.
To build a per-stage figure, the 21 stages are sorted by the size of crowd they pull, then given a roadside-waste figure inside the 10 to 20 tonnes per stage the race organiser reports. The publicity caravan runs the full route every day, so it adds a roughly steady amount on top.
| Stage | Route | Terrain | Roadside waste (tonnes) | Total with caravan (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Barcelona to Barcelona (Grand Départ) | Team time trial | 20 | 38 |
| 2 | Tarragona to Barcelona | Hilly | 14 | 32 |
| 3 | Granollers to Les Angles | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 4 | Carcassonne to Foix | Hilly | 14 | 32 |
| 5 | Lannemezan to Pau | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 6 | Pau to Gavarnie-Gèdre | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 7 | Hagetmau to Bordeaux | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 8 | Périgueux to Bergerac | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 9 | Malemort to Ussel | Hilly | 14 | 32 |
| 10 | Aurillac to Le Lioran | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 11 | Vichy to Nevers | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 12 | Nevers to Chalon-sur-Saône | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 13 | Dole to Belfort | Hilly | 14 | 32 |
| 14 | Mulhouse to Le Markstein | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 15 | Champagnole to Plateau de Solaison | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 16 | Évian-les-Bains to Thonon-les-Bains | Individual time trial | 11 | 29 |
| 17 | Chambéry to Voiron | Flat | 11 | 29 |
| 18 | Voiron to Orcières-Merlette | Mountain | 17 | 35 |
| 19 | Gap to Alpe d'Huez | Mountain | 20 | 38 |
| 20 | Le Bourg-d'Oisans to Alpe d'Huez | Mountain | 20 | 38 |
| 21 | Paris (Champs-Élysées finale) | Flat | 20 | 38 |
Note: Roadside figures sit inside the 10 to 20 tonnes per stage the race organiser reports for spectator rubbish, tiered by crowd size. The publicity caravan adds roughly 18 tonnes a stage, for a Tour total of about 700 tonnes.
The three biggest days stand out. The Grand Départ in Barcelona, the back-to-back finishes at Alpe d'Huez and the closing run into Paris pull the densest crowds of the race, so each leaves close to 38 tonnes once the caravan is counted.
The pattern also shows why the Tour cannot cut its waste just by trimming quiet stages. Even a flat transition day through farmland still gets the full publicity caravan, which sets a floor of around 29 tonnes no matter how thin the roadside crowd is.
Where the Tour's waste comes from
Add the stages together and the Tour's waste splits into two big blocks and one small one.
| Where it comes from | Estimated waste (tonnes) | Share of total |
|---|---|---|
| The publicity caravan's giveaways | 380 | 54% |
| Roadside and host-town rubbish | 315 | 45% |
| Riders and team race waste | 5 | 1% |
| Total | 700 | 100% |
Note: The caravan figure is 18 million single-use items at a blended 21 grams each. The roadside figure is the 21 stages added up. Rider waste is small because the riders' water bottles (bidons) and wrappers are dropped in marked zones and cleared, not strewn across the route.
The surprise for most people is the top row. The single biggest source of waste at the Tour de France is not the fans. It is the advertising parade the organiser sends ahead of the riders.
The Tour de France in brief
The Tour de France is the world's biggest annual bike race, first run in 1903 and held every July. The 2026 edition started in Barcelona on 4 July and finished on the Champs-Élysées in Paris on 26 July.
By the numbers, the 2026 race looked like this.
- 21 stages over 23 days, from 4 to 26 July.
- 3,245 kilometres of racing, with 54,450 metres of climbing.
- 23 teams and 184 riders.
- 3 countries, Spain then France, finishing in Paris.
- 10 to 12 million spectators at the roadside, almost all of them watching for free.
Almost all of those fans watch from the open roadside, bringing their own food and drink. Most take their rubbish home or to town bins, which is why the waste left behind on the route is smaller than the crowd size suggests.
The publicity caravan and its 18 million giveaways
If one thing sets the Tour de France apart from any other sporting event, it is the publicity caravan. It is also the race's single biggest source of waste.
The caravan is an advertising parade of decorated vehicles that drives the full route an hour or two ahead of the riders, with staff throwing free branded goodies to the crowd. It has run since 1930 and is a beloved part of the day out for many fans.
Three numbers explain why it matters for waste.
- More than 18 million items are thrown into the crowd each edition, up from 11 million in 2004.
- Over 150 vehicles, around 170 in 2026, make up the parade, which takes the best part of an hour to pass.
- Most items are single-use, from sweets and keyrings to sachets and small plastic-wrapped samples.
The scale drew a public backlash. In 2019 about thirty French members of parliament and several environmental groups signed a letter denouncing the caravan's plastic pollution, saying its giveaways ended up in fields, rivers and mountains.
Since then the organiser has changed the rules. New specifications cut most single-use plastic, push brands toward reusable items like caps and tote bags, and require hybrid or electric vehicles. The item count, though, is still above 18 million a year.
Every kind of waste the Tour produces
Break the 700 tonnes down by material and it looks like the waste from any large outdoor event, from a music festival to the FIFA World Cup, with one extra category the Tour adds itself. Following a waste stream simply means tracking one type of rubbish from the bin to where it ends up.
| Waste category | Typical share | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Food and organic | 34% | leftover picnic food and compostable packaging |
| Promotional material | 20% | the caravan's plastic-wrapped giveaways |
| Plastic drinks packaging | 15% | bottles, cups and wrappers |
| Mixed and general | 14% | unsorted waste sent to landfill or burned for energy |
| Paper and cardboard | 9% | food packaging and cartons |
| Glass and metal | 6% | bottles and drink cans |
| Hazardous and electronic | 2% | batteries, broken electronics and cleaning chemicals |
Note: Shares are indicative, drawn from waste studies of large outdoor events, where food and organic waste is normally the biggest single stream. The Tour adds an unusually large promotional-material share because of the caravan.
Organic waste tops the list, as it does at almost any event where people eat and drink for hours. Much of it can be composted where the host town collects it separately.
Single-use plastic is the category the organiser has fought hardest to cut, in the caravan and at the finish areas. A small but real slice is hazardous waste: the batteries, screens and IT kit left behind by the race's huge temporary broadcast and timing setup.
Carbon is a far bigger problem than the waste
The 700 tonnes of rubbish is not the Tour's main environmental cost. That is carbon, and it sits in a completely different league.
Put the two side by side and the gap is stark.
| Environmental measure | Estimate |
|---|---|
| Solid waste (whole race) | around 700 tonnes |
| Carbon footprint | 216,388 tonnes of CO2 equivalent |
Note: The carbon figure comes from the Tour's most recent full carbon audit, in 2021, and is down about 40% since the first audit in 2013. It is roughly 300 times the waste by weight.
The reason is travel. About 94% of those emissions come from the 10 to 12 million spectators driving and flying to reach the roadside, spread along 3,245 kilometres of route the organiser cannot control.
So the Tour's real cost to the planet is not what ends up in the bins. It is how people get to the roadside. Solid waste and a carbon footprint are two separate measures, and it helps to keep them apart.
What the Tour is doing about its waste
The organiser, ASO, does have a real record to point to, alongside the parts it has been slower to fix. On the waste it can reach directly, the race runs several programmes.
- Same-day clean-up. Around 100,000 bags are handed to local councils so the route is cleared the day the race passes, not a week later.
- Rider collection zones. Riders can only drop bidons and food wrappers in marked zones near feed points and climbs, so the waste is gathered in one place rather than strewn across the countryside.
- A greener caravan. New rules cut most single-use plastic and moved the parade toward reusable giveaways and hybrid or electric vehicles.
- A 40% carbon cut. The organiser has trimmed the emissions it controls by about 40% since 2013.
The limits are just as clear. The caravan still puts more than 18 million items into circulation each year, which is what drew the 2019 backlash. And the 40% carbon cut covers only the emissions ASO controls, while the 94% that comes from spectator travel is largely out of its hands.
The clean-up work is real. The question the 2019 letter raised, why an event promoting sustainability still hands out 18 million single-use items, is the one the organiser is still working through.
Frequently asked questions about the Tour de France's waste
Below are the questions people most often ask about how much waste the Tour de France produces and where it goes.
How much waste does the Tour de France produce?
The 2026 edition produced an estimated 700 tonnes of waste, about 320 tonnes of roadside and host-town rubbish across the 21 stages and about 380 tonnes of promotional material from the publicity caravan. That makes it one of the more waste-heavy events on the sporting calendar for its size.
Which stage of the Tour produces the most waste?
The biggest-crowd days are the Grand Départ in Barcelona, the two finishes at Alpe d'Huez and the closing stage in Paris. Each leaves close to 38 tonnes once the caravan is counted, against about 29 tonnes on a quiet flat stage.
What is the publicity caravan and why does it matter for waste?
It is an advertising parade that drives the route ahead of the riders, throwing free branded goodies to the crowd. It distributes more than 18 million single-use items each edition, which makes it the Tour's single biggest source of waste.
What kind of waste does the Tour produce most of?
Food and organic waste is the largest single stream at roughly a third of the total, followed by the caravan's promotional material and plastic drinks packaging. The rest is mixed general waste, paper, glass, metal and a small amount of hazardous and electronic waste.
Is the Tour de France's waste recycled?
Some of it. The organiser hands out around 100,000 bags so host towns can collect and sort waste the day the race passes, and riders drop bottles in marked zones for collection. Rates vary by town, and a lot of mixed waste still goes to landfill or is burned for energy.
How big is the Tour de France's carbon footprint?
Its most recent audit, in 2021, put it at 216,388 tonnes of CO2 equivalent, down about 40% since 2013. Around 94% comes from spectators travelling to the roadside, so travel, not rubbish, is the Tour's main climate cost.
How do we estimate the Tour's waste?
We add two parts. Roadside and host-town waste uses the 10 to 20 tonnes per stage the organiser reports, tiered by crowd size across the 21 stages. Caravan waste is 18 million items at about 21 grams each. Together that is about 700 tonnes.
Do the riders themselves create much waste?
Very little by weight. Riders go through thousands of water bottles and food wrappers over three weeks, but these are dropped in designated zones and collected, so they add only a few tonnes across the whole race.
Images: Matt Knoth, Krzysztof Golik
