It has been almost a fortnight since the two Suez sites can no longer get their trucks out or in. In Chartres-de-Bretagne and Pacé, opponents of the pension reform are blocking the two waste treatment sites, preventing the collection of garbage cans in all the municipalities of Rennes Métropole. In the streets, the containers are therefore numerous and full to the brim. A situation closely monitored by the Regional Health Agency. On demonstration days, they are regularly picked up by people who carry them around at the head of the procession. For many of them, these will be their last moments of life before being burned in the middle of the road in an ugly release of black smoke.
Since the start of the mobilization against the pension reform, we have lost count of the number of garbage cans burnt on the altar of protest. How much ? ” We do not know. To find out, each owner must report it to us. We do not have this figure for the moment, ”assures the vice-president of Rennes Métropole in charge of waste. Laurent Hamon recognizes that “this is the first time that we have had so many” and that “we will have to think about replacing them” fairly quickly. An investment that the community would have done well while “the cost of waste treatment has literally exploded”. A classic 180 liter bin costs 32 euros excluding tax. A figure that rises to 116 euros for a 600 liter container. Dozens have already gone up in smoke, raising the bill at each gathering.
Back to normal within “a month or even a month and a half”
To prevent the garbage cans from serving as a barricade, the metropolis has set up a “light” collection with the few garbage trucks that it had kept since it delegated collection to Suez. “Normally, we do about 70 rounds a day. There, we are less than ten, ”says Laurent Hamon. According to the metropolis, around 4,000 tonnes of garbage are “overdue” due to the blockages.
The only good news? With the closure of its Villejean incineration plant for work, the community had acquired storage areas that it can use while waiting for an improvement in the situation. “Each week of stopping, it takes us fifteen days to return to normal. I think it will take us a month or even a month and a half, ”says the elected ecologist.