Paris’s garbage piles begin to recede after protest

The garbage standoff in Paris, one of the most visible signs of public frustration over President Emmanuel Macron’s plan to raise the minimum retirement age, appears to finally be abating.

The amount of trash on the streets fell to 7 800 metric tons on Sunday from 9 800 tons the day before, the biggest drop since garbage collectors went on strike three weeks ago. It slid further on Monday to 7 300 tons.

Over the weekend, 421 garbage trucks made the rounds in Paris, twice the number of a normal Sunday, according to City Hall. Three incinerators outside Paris resumed service on Friday, which helped ease the situation.

“We made a big push this weekend,” Emmanuel Grégoire, the deputy mayor for urban planning, told Franceinfo radio on Monday.

The French capital was hit by strikes and violent protests after Macron’s government rammed through an unpopular pension reform without a full parliamentary vote.

Unions have planned another day of demonstrations on Tuesday.

Paris authorities said blockades in some garages and treatment centers were still hampering garbage collection. The situation is also exacerbated in narrow streets, where trash heaps are preventing trucks from passing through.

Employees at Derichebourg, a contractor that handles waste in several arrondissements in Paris, were mulling a strike after issuing a notice on Sunday. Garbage collectors at Pizzorno, which is responsible for the 15th arrondissement, ended their strike last week.

Half of the city’s arrondissements rely on private companies for garbage collection and the other half on municipal workers.

Trash mounds reached their daily peak of 10 000 tons for the third time last Friday, a day after unions held another strike against the pension reform.

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