The urban community of Libournais, the CALI (100,000 inhabitants 45 municipalities) voted Tuesday, October 18, 2022 a motion against the new waste collection project SMICVAL (responsible for collecting and recovering waste in Libourne and Blayais). Faced with the increase in the number of waste per inhabitant (+ 80kg per inhabitant between 2020 and 2021), the SMICVAL union plans to install waste collection points for better recovery. It would be the end of door-to-door collection, a cause for concern for users. During a special session of the community council in Bayas the elected officials exchanged before the vote. Some have held consultations with their constituents in very clear opposition to the project, (as in Coutras) while others intend to lead the charge against the mixed syndicate. For everyone, this motion is the first step in an administrative response.
And now ?
And now that the motion is voted what will happen? We go “bring SMICVAL back to the dialogue table” replies Philippe Buisson, president of CALI. On the other hand “time is running out the CALI will challenge the relevance of the deliberation of the SMICVAL of last September 6, on the substance and on the form, before the beginning of November“. The one who is also the mayor of Libourne warns that the CALI “will go through with the legal challenge, it’s not just a motion it’s the beginning of a fight or a dialogue“, adding mischievously that he prefers dialogue.
On the side of the elected representatives sitting on SMICVAL, we say we are ready for more dialogue, but French regulations require changing the way of recovering waste and financing collection, which means that the project will eventually see the light of day in 2023 for a operational implementation from 2025.
Will this motion suffice?
According to the president of CALI, in Blayais as in Libournais “all the municipalities express distrust of this decision“. This is not at all the opinion of Michel Vaché, both elected to Cali but also vice president of SMICVAL. According to him “CALI is the only one to have deliberated a motion to this effect. that means you’ll have to talk to him“. But the concession stops there because in the eyes of this elected official with a double hat “you can’t have a two-speed SMICVAL“. This means that the household waste collection project cannot be of variable geometry, even if it will be adapted according to the size of the municipalities where it will be implemented. For him, this project is mandatory for elected officials because it is the law. It obliges to better recycle waste, especially vegetable waste, and therefore to modify its routing. Michel Vaché also justifies his position with the introduction of an incentive tax to finance the new SMICVAL projectfairer in his eyes.
It should be noted that two advisers from SMICVAL did not take part in the vote to avoid any suspicion of conflict of interest. The motion won unanimous votes minus one abstention. The next stage of the Cali challenge against the Syndicat mixte that the CALI has nevertheless helped to create will be before the administrative judge, in summary proceedings, at the beginning of November.