Media: Paris streets overflow with garbage amid public services strike

Half of Paris’s municipal districts have gone nearly a week without waste collection, leaving piles of rubbish accumulating across the city.

The disruption stems from a strike by municipal sanitation services that began on 12 November, Caliber.Az reports, citing Le Figaro.

Following a union call, waste-incineration plants and maintenance garages were shut down, with workers demanding better conditions and higher pay.

A union representative said that dozens of police officers entered one of the equipment depots and used “physical coercion” against the strikers, prompting the union to extend the strike through Monday, 17 November.

The walkout has affected 10 of Paris’s 20 municipal districts. City Hall told Le Figaro it “will meet with the strikers again this week.”

Meanwhile, local officials warn that the impact of the strike varies sharply across Paris.

Only districts where waste collection is handled directly by the municipal service have been affected, while areas served by private companies remain largely clean.

The mayor of the 17th arrondissement, Geoffroy Boulard, criticised what he called unequal treatment and said he requested emergency support from private operator Derichebourg to clear roughly 200 tonnes of accumulated waste over the weekend.

City Hall confirmed that substitute measures — including temporary reliance on private contractors — are being coordinated by the municipal sanitation and water department.

Still, Boulard and other district officials are calling for a harmonised waste-collection system across Paris or, at a minimum, a guaranteed minimum service during strikes.

Residents in affected districts express frustration, noting that centrally located areas managed by private companies remain “perfectly clean.”

Local officials argue that all Parisian taxpayers deserve the same level and quality of municipal service, regardless of arrondissement.

By Jeyhun Aghazada