In Toulouse, 2,200 tonnes of bulky items and waste in the streets
In Toulouse, there is still too much waste thrown into the streets. Several actions have therefore been put in place to try to raise public awareness of the collection of rubbish.
“People throw less waste, but they still throw it away, unfortunately,” laments Emilion Esnault, the elected official in charge of the good performance of public space, in Toulouse. According to him, in the streets of the pink city, waste is still present, even if there is less of it. In a few years, the amount of illegal dumping, in other words, the fact of leaving waste or bulky objects in the streets, is reduced by 30%. 2,200 tonnes of bulky items were removed in 2021, compared to 2,600 tonnes in 2019.
To stop this phenomenon, for several years, the metropolis has been offering residents wishing to get rid of bulky items to contact “Allo Toulouse”. Thus, by appointment, the community comes to remove, free of charge, the objects to be thrown away. An alternative that has paid off. “We had 65,000 appointments in 2019, 85,000 in 2021,” says Emilion Esnault.
The plague of cigarette butts
Alas, despite the installation of cigarette snuffers in 2,674 of the city’s 3,039 bins, cigarette butts are the most common litter on the streets. “In 2021, we broke a cigarette butt collection record. A youth association counts more than 300,000 cigarette butts in two hours. It is enormous. regrets Emilion Esnault. “It’s a real scourge, against which we fight, and we verbalize frequently” he adds.
Several awareness-raising actions
Toulouse must therefore continue their efforts. And for this, awareness-raising actions are multiplying. This Saturday, on the occasion of World Clean Up Day, Toulouse Métropole is organizing waste collection sessions, in which residents are invited to participate. “This kind of event is the best way to raise awareness. Seeing your neighbor cleaning something that you may have thrown yourself, it challenges and raises awareness, ”launches the chosen one. In Balma, the Toulouse Water sanitation service affixes the message: “throwing in the street means throwing in the sea” on the city’s manholes.