Monday 15 September 2014

Keeping Paris Beautiful

I don't know that I would have paid any particular attention to any of this if I hadn't watched Griff Rhys Jones' Greatest Cities of the World- Paris in 2012 as part of the exhaustive preparation for my 2013 Paris trip. The show had a particularly fascinating section on the literal army of green clad people who keep Paris clean and looking her best- The Proprete de Paris.

So I was interested to see it all unfolding before my eyes on my early morning walks last year.

The workers always seem happy
 to be at their important task

Those trucks get everywhere

Clearly there is no water shortage in Paris as they flush the gutters each morning.

There are two water types in Paris- treated drinking water
 and untreated water for flushing the streets

There is always a green broom
like a little tree at the ready nearby


If the drain water isn't enough
they come along with a truck

The Proprete de Paris also take a more proactive approach to preventing rubbish buildup. Whilst picnicing on the Seine one evening (a must do Paris activity) another friendly worker was hanging out rubbish bags to the happy crowds enjoying the incredible Paris summer evenings.


They were out in force too on
Bastille Day at the Champ de Mars
keeping everything nice for the masses
I hadn't noticed Paris' recycling efforts as much before, but it's there if you look.

There are a few designs of street side
bottle recycling centres


My local recycling station on rue de Sevres
I personally helped fill it
with quite a lot of  champagne and red wine debris

It is a noisy process (but rather fun) so they respectfully
ask not to dump your bottles between
2200 and 0700

Parks have bins for general rubbish in green
and recycling in yellow




Dreaming of France is a wonderful Monday meme
from Paulita aAn Accidental Blog

6 comments:

Unknown said...

Wonderful stuff Louise. I love to see every day life, not just content filtered through the media / tourist industry.

Esme said...

You are right about this. They have been doing this for years.

Paulita said...

Louise, I love that they clean the streets everyday. The shop owners are out there hosing down their sidewalks too. I've never taken notice of the recycling, but now I will. I bet the workers seem happy because they actually make a living wage! Thanks for playing along.

Sally Tharpe Rowles said...

Oh I am so glad you did this post. I have always love these men in green keeping Paris clean. You have captured all of it perfectly!

vvb32 reads said...

Great post! loved learning about this. I remember seeing the recycling bins and thinking how cute and whimsical they looked.

Deb Nance at Readerbuzz said...

Green. Very nice.