Garbage collectors' strike: 10,000 tons of garbage in the streets, the weight of the Eiffel Tower!

Published by Graziella de Sortiraparis · Photos by Caroline de Sortiraparis · Published on March 18th, 2023 at 11:50 a.m.
For several days now, overflowing garbage cans have been the daily life of many Parisians, due to the garbage collectors' strike against the pension reform. 10 000 tons of waste are now piling up in the streets of the capital.

For more than a week, residents of several Parisian districts have been smelling a foul odor in the street, after several days of strike by garbage collectors in the capital. Although it is not as bad as in the middle of summer, there are hygiene problems if the garbage collection is not carried out, raising fears of a rat invasion. And if your district is not concerned, it is most certainly because a private company takes care of your district, explaining the difference in treatment. Only the 2nd, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 12th, 14th, 16th, 17th and 20th are affected by the strike.

If on Friday, March 10, the city hall counted 4500 tons of uncollected waste, the garbage cans now litter the streets, to the point that it is necessary to slalom between the bags of waste. There were 10,000 tons of garbage this Friday, March 17, which corresponds to the weight of the Eiffel Tower, symbol of the city! And the waste is concentrated on the most touristic districts, around the Champs-Elysées, the Latin Quarter, or the Opera.

Some garbage collectors joined the general mobilization against the pension reform, alongside the RATP, the SNCF, the refineries or the airlines. But it is especially the garages in municipal management and incineration centers that are blocked, preventing the treatment of household waste. This situation is not likely to improve any time soon, as the government has forced through the pension reform with a 49.3, triggering spontaneous demonstrations throughout the country, notably at the Place de la Concorde.

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At the end of March, tons of waste were piling up in the streets of Paris, due to a strike of garbage collectors. The latter continue to protest against the pension reform: the CGT has filed a new strike notice from 13 April 2023. [Read more]

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