A mattress, wooden planks, plastic buckets… At the foot of this tower, in the Blosne district of Rennes, the sight is desolate. A few tens of meters away, it’s not much better with this time a washing machine, gutted boxes and broken chairs strewn on the ground around the points of voluntary contributions. “And still it’s going today, there’s not too much waste! “, quips a local resident. Like him, many residents are exasperated by the illegal dumping that pollutes life in the neighborhood.
“People are really dirty, it’s amazing,” fumes a young woman. Some still haven’t understood that you can’t just throw away bulky items. And there are bins for household waste and packaging. But it seems that some are deliberately throwing them aside”. Equipped with his pliers, this cleaning agent who crisscrosses the neighborhood has enough to pick up. “I go to certain areas every day and every morning I know that I will have to clean again,” he says.
Lots of wild deposit lifts this summer
This situation is of course not specific to Blosne, with many residents complaining about how dirty their neighborhood is. Mayor of Rennes, Nathalie Appéré does not hide that this fight for cleanliness “is very complicated”. “It’s a constant challenge,” she says. The subject has also regularly appeared on his desk in recent weeks. “The situation had improved but we had a lot of feedback this summer with a relaxation of behavior,” she says.
To fight against this “black spot”, the elected socialist is also preparing to draw a new weapon. During 2023, an anti-incivility brigade will enter service in Rennes. Already present in several cities such as Paris or Toulouse, this new unit will be responsible for tracking down and punishing everyday nuisances. This will be the case for waste deposits on the public highway, but also for throwing cigarette butts, canine excrement, tags, noise pollution or wild peeing in the middle of the street. “The mission of these agents will be to be present in the public space, to recall the rules but also to verbalize”, assures Nathalie Appéré.
What powers for ASVPs?
To form its brigade, the Rennes municipality will call on three of its cleanliness agents as well as its public road surveillance agents (ASVP), currently responsible for controlling parking. But in the coming months, the fines will be drawn up by Lapi (Automated Number Plate Reading) cars, also nicknamed “PV sulphators”. Relieved of this mission, the fifteen ASVPs will therefore join the future anti-incivility brigade.
Secretary of the FO union in the city of Rennes, Jérôme Jourdan is not opposed in principle to this redeployment. On condition, however, of extending the prerogatives of the ASVPs, which are currently of limited scope. “They cannot proceed to a statement of identity and their competence of verbalization is framed, he assures. We therefore fear that they will put themselves in danger on these missions”. The trade unionist demands that these agents obtain the status of municipal police officers and the protective equipment that goes with it. “They must have the means to act otherwise this brigade will be useless,” he says.