“Here begins the sea”: what are these mysterious blocks placed in the streets of Rouen?
By Fabien Massin
Published on
In 2021, in the streets of Rouen (Seine-Maritime), we had seen dozens of inscriptions appear on the ground, mentioning an intriguing “The sea begins here, please do not throw anything away”.
Cast iron “environmental badges”
Arranged next to gullies (water evacuation grids), it was an operation to raise awareness of the pollution of aquatic environments, the result of a partnership between the Rouen Normandy Metropolis and the company Bachelet Bonnefond ( sanitation agency). Indeed, far too much of our waste left in the public space has ended up polluting the oceans thousands of miles from where it was carelessly dumped.
The operation is continuing and becoming permanent with the embedding, currently, of around sixty “environmental badges” in cast iron, manufactured by the company EJ (water networks), a partner in the operation.
It is to fight against this same scourge that the Rouen Normandy Metropolis has installed anti-waste nets on the Seine, in order to retain sanitary wipes, masks and other cigarette butts which, left in the public space, are then carried into the river via the sewer network.
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