World Cleanup Day in Rennes

News

Mayor of Rennes Nathalie Appéré 2017 has started the implementation of an extensive action plan aiming to improve the cleanliness of the various districts of the city and to sensitize Rennes on shared responsibility for a pollution-free environment.

This Saturday, a group of kayakers took part in a waste collection operation on the river Vilaine in Rennes which was one of the many actions carried out within the framework of the 3rd edition of the World Cleanup Day, as a part of worldwide inactive set up in 180 countries around the globe.

Paddling with a garbage bag in their hands, the group of about fifteen people got into the water at Quai Saint-Cyr in the city center. “We do not realize the surrounding pollution. It is a day of public awareness. We want to make a gesture at our level by collecting the maximum amount of waste that we find. We are contributing,” explains Hoel, a member of the Embarcadère, an electric boat rental company that supervised this cleaning operation. The initiative participates, like fifteen others in Rennes, and more than 2,000 in France, in World Day for cleaning up the planet which brought together 265,000 people across France last year and enabled collect 842 tonnes of waste.

What goes to the sea reappears on our plates

Saturday morning the participants of garbage collection on the Vilaine did not wait long before starting to fill their garbage bags. Lou and Camille have been paddling for a few minutes and stop near the bank to catch the rubbish floating on the water. “There are papers, plastic bottles, a bit of everything. We collect little waste compared to everything that exists globally, but it is above all an awareness campaign. It allows us to do something to act together. The waste that is in the river today goes to the sea. And what goes to the sea comes back on our plates”.

Inventory à la Prévert

After two hours of kayaking, the conclusion is clear: it is unfortunately a miraculous catch. Everyone returns to dry land with their share of all kinds of rubbish: glass bottles, plastic bottles, pieces of polystyrene, plastic bags, cigarette butts, masks to protect themselves from COVID, a wooden pallet, or even a car wheel. An inventory à la Prévert, just like in a poem by Jacques Prévert, called “Inventory”, a collection of miscellaneous objects, which does not surprise David, one of the kayakers, who fished out two garbage containers during his journey along the river. “We saw people applaud us and thank us for what we were doing. It’s a small gesture for the environment, but if it could convince people to throw away less and pick up more, that would be good”. For its part, the city of Rennes also organized citizen cleanup actions in six districts. A total of 300 people thus collected 522 kg of waste, including 200 kg of recyclable objects, 200 kg of household waste, 100 kg of glass, and 22 kg of cigarette butts.