three questions about the garbage collectors’ strike in Paris?

The mobilization of garbage collectors against the pension reform is increasingly visible in some cities. In Nantes, the metropolis recommends that residents do not take out their trash. The metropolis of Le Havre is also affected by the mobilization. AT Paris and in some towns in Ile de France, waste accumulates on the sidewalks. On Monday, March 13, there were 5,600 tons waste not collected in the capital.

Why are trash cans piling up in some neighborhoods and not in others?

The situation remains unequal according to the districts of the capital. In Paris, some districts are still collected, despite the renewable strike started on March 7. In the capital, half of the districts are collected by municipal agents who are on strike. In these neighborhoods there are therefore a lot of overflowing garbage cans, especially in chic neighborhoods such as the 16th or 17th arrondissement.

For the ten other boroughs, four private companies distribute the collection (Derichebourg, Pizzorno, Urbaser and Sepur). In these companies, the number of strikers is much lower, the service operates almost normally. There is however an exception, that of the employees of the Pizzorno company, employees blocked Monday, March 13 in the morning the garage of the dump trucks. These garbage collectors manage the collection of the 15th arrondissement of Paris and several municipalities of the Val de Marne, such as Rungis or Arcueil. So many places where waste begins to pile up.

What is the situation at incineration sites?

For the waste that is actually collected, there are other problems in Île-de-France. The garbage collectors are not the only ones on strike, it is also the case for some of the incineration sites where household waste is burned, the waste that is thrown into the bin without sorting. In Île-de-France the three incineration sites of Syctom, the joint waste recovery union, are shut down. Usually, their ovens burn 6,000 tons of household waste per day for Paris and 81 municipalities in Ile de France.

Where does the unburned waste go?

Even if the drop in collection in Paris reduces the volume of waste for Syctom by 25%, it still has to manage this waste differently, which can no longer be incinerated. There are several solutions. The simplest is diversion by Syctom, the metropolitan waste management agency, to other incinerators in Île de France, managed by other operators, public or private. But the absorption of additional waste remains limited. It is also possible to move this waste to storage centers while waiting for the furnaces to restart, but there too, there are risks of saturation. The last solution is to bury waste, a lot of which ends up in Seine-et-Marne on the Claye Souilly site.