For a little over a week and the first days of the Parisian garbage collectors’ strike against the pension reform, waste has started to accumulate in the streets of the capital. In all, there are nearly 5,600 tons, according to the municipality, of garbage bags, cardboard boxes, rubbish of all kinds that flood the sidewalks because they could not be collected.
In parallel with the political struggle between the municipality of Paris and the government, the Parisians are forced to improvise and adapt to the invasion, mainly in the dense and commercial streets, for example, rue du Faubourg Montmartre in the 9th arrondissement.
Keep your trash cans as long as possible
“We will soon have to walk on the road! “More amused than disappointed, for the moment, Jackie has lived in the neighborhood for several decades: “It is a special street, there are housing, shops, restaurants, offices and theaters”, comments the sixty-year-old to justify crowded Monday morning.
A frequentation which also justifies the heaps of garbage cans that litter the sidewalks. “It’s five meters of sidewalks, five meters of garbage cans, all over the street”, notes Kiliane, a resident of the street who just takes down a bag that she superimposes on dozens of others in front of her building: “I tried to keep it as long as possible at home but now it’s starting to really smell. »
However, the young woman had found a trick to save onlookers an extra bag on the sidewalk of her street: store it for a while on her windowsill outside: “It’s not really a balcony, but there is depth for a garbage bag. It was convenient until my neighbors complained. Taunted by her neighbors on the landing and at the window, she resolved to take her rubbish into her kitchen. “Frankly, it doesn’t smell outside, and that relieves the pavements a bit. I think I’ll try my luck again, unless my landlord calls me to ask me to stop. »
Relocate your waste
If that happened, Kiliane would consider following the example of a neighbor who simply transports her waste… further: “She puts her garbage cans in a Tote bag and finds a less crowded sidewalk on her way to work. »
She does not have the chance, like Bernard, to benefit from a courtyard and the collaboration of her building neighbors: “We have agreed to store all non-food waste in the courtyard. With goodwill, Bernard even explains how he organized, with his wife, a business of folding boxes and packaging in order to limit the volume: “It gave ideas to the neighbors who are now copying us. One even brought two shopping carts, from who knows where, to be able to put them inside. It prevents them from dragging on the ground. Proud of this organization, Bernard knows that it will only last for a while, the yard not being expandable.
Food and fear of rats
Above all, for food and organic waste, the transition destination remains the street. To limit the odors of his waste and to be able to keep it longer in his studio, Martin started cleaning food packaging. A method whose ecological value he doubts but which at least makes the situation a little more tenable according to him: “And then I force myself not to throw anything away. It forces me to finish everything. “An easy habit to take for those who have a small food budget: “I thought about getting bulky. But at the moment, it’s still too expensive for my student finances. »
Those who could see their food budget increase with this strike are the neighborhood rats: “For the moment, we don’t see them more than usual, but it’s true that we fear a multiplication with the waste , especially since we use a lot of raw materials”, fears Cécilia, employee at the Denis bakery. Indeed, with all the food businesses that adorn the street and its adjacent arteries, the fear of seeing our neighbors in the basement come out more is spreading despite the efforts of the merchants.
“Until now, we have managed to store them downstairs, explains an employee of the Mamie restaurant, but we are limited in place, we will have to take them out. »
Tensions between traders
A street restaurateur confides that he has found a more “radical” solution: transporting his waste to a street perpendicular to rue du Faubourg Montmartre: “I’m not proud, but it’s starting to accumulate too much in front of my shop and it there is almost nothing in the streets next door. I’m sorry for the neighbors, but we have to disperse well. »
Let’s bet that he is not one of the neighbors complained about by Jean, director of the Franprix on rue Geoffroy-Marie: “We are organizing ourselves to limit as much as possible putting food waste on the sidewalk. But some take advantage of it. In fact, to deal with the lack of waste collection, the trader took out one of his dumpsters to put his waste in, safe from rodents and to prevent them from scattering in the Street. Problem, other traders would take advantage of it without his consent: “The worst thing is that they put meat. With putrefaction, the smells are not the same. »
Remains the choice of the private
Fortunately for him, he benefits from the understanding of a group platform that includes some of this waste, usually reserved for garbage collectors: “We make bundles of cardboard, very compact and filmed, which we then send to them. “A bale is present in the store, no choice, no more room in the stocks: “It’s not very aesthetic, but it’s not dirty or in contact with the products. And then it doesn’t last long. »
Like him, the Hotel Pulitzer, located a few tens of meters further, uses a private service responsible for coming every three days to collect all the waste: “It’s essential for a four-star hotel”, explains an employee at home. Her colleague confides that she sometimes has to push the waste accumulated on the sidewalk a few meters when it gets a little too close to the window, but admits that she fears being overwhelmed if the strike continues for too long.
She will probably know a little more this Wednesday, with the meeting of the joint joint committee which will allow us to find out more about the continuation, or not, of the movement. Whatever happens, it will still be necessary to be patient since Emmanuel Grégoire, first deputy to Anne Hidalgo at the Paris City Hall, confided during a press briefing on Monday that it will take several days, after the end of the strike movement, to absorb all the accumulated waste.