Rouen wants to reduce the number of cigarette butts by 40% in 6 years
Long hair and mustache provided, Jean-Marc answered the call of the city of Rouen (Seine-Maritime) to come this Saturday afternoon to pick up the cigarette butts thrown on the ground around the forecourt of the cathedral. “I’ve done waste collection before, but never like this. Even if each time, in what we recover there are always cigarette butts”. Like him, a small handful came for this mainly symbolic operation and intended to formalize the partnership between the Rouen municipality and Alcome, the eco-organization approved in August 2021 by the Ministry of Ecological Transition to fight against waste. which is almost discreet… since it is everywhere.
“We have already carried out targeted collection operations with our teams”, assures Ludovic Bouffet, the deputy director of the urban cleanliness service. “And on a very small perimeter, it is not uncommon to collect more than 300”. Which is not nothing because as Kader Chekhemani, the cleanliness assistant, explains, “it takes more than 500 liters of water to degrade this little filter. And during this time, it pollutes the environment with all the products that compose it”.
5 areas under control
Rouen is one of the six “pilot” cities selected by Alcome to carry out awareness-raising and selective collection operations. With the added bonus of a strong argument: an annual grant to the city of 2.08 euros per resident for the entire duration of this 6-year partnership. “Each city has its specificities, a different size”, explains Mary Carteau, the representative of Alcome who cites another metropolis, that of Grenoble, but also the small village of Lalinde in the Dordogne. “The idea is to see what works or what doesn’t to learn from it and apply the right methods in other cities. With an ambitious roadmap since, according to her, “our objective is to reduce the number of cigarette butts in public spaces by 40% in 6 years”.
“Here, we have identified five ‘hot spots’, areas where the number of cigarette butts is substantial,” explains Ludovic Bouffet. “We have carried out counts and we are going to follow the evolution and see if the awareness-raising actions that we are carrying out are effective. Among them, the distribution of pocket ashtrays of different models, in collaboration with tobacconists. “For the time being, we are not currently in a selective collection process which then aims to recycle cigarette butts”, continues the technician who ensures that the sector has not yet reached maturity. “The goal is above all that the cigarette butt does not end up on the ground. And for that, it is the behaviors and reflexes of smokers that must be modified”. Six years will probably not be too much…