Mayor turns ‘tec to catch polluters

A MAYOR has turned detective to stop people from dumping rubbish – by tracking them down and giving them the rubbish back.

For nine months former policeman Christophe Dietrich has been implementing his “return to sender” policy in Laigneville, Oise, Picardy, and dumping has almost completely stopped on the streets and surrounding marshes.

As mayor he is also an officier de police judiciaire and uses these powers in his inquiries, helped also by vigilant neighbours.

He told newspaper Courrier Picard: “People leave plenty of evidence behind them. The first time we found pieces of broken tile in among dumped building rubbish: when we went to the man’s house we found he was doing renovations using the same tiles.

“Another time we found a waistcoat in a heap of building rubble. It had the name of a restaurant on the back... we went there and found it was under renovation.”

Mr Dietrich tracked down one dumper with the aid of residents who had noted his numberplate and phoned the man to tell him to pick it all up or have it dumped on his own doorstep. The man, embarrassed, admitted it was stupid, especially as the municipal tip was just 50m away.

Mr Dietrich said the amount of wild dumping had been cut from five a week to four in three months. Although he had only dumped the rubbish back at about 10 people’s doors it had had an effect – especially as less building rubbish was being dumped in the giant ponds that surround the village, polluting them.

#OISE Ce maire traque en personne les pollueurs http://t.co/QRiMt0b6eq pic.twitter.com/BSftAM4gW7— Courrier picard (@CourrierPicard) September 14, 2015

It was also saving the commune money as he said it cost up to €50,000 a year to clear the extra rubbish.

But Jean-Claude Billot, president of the group of mayors in Somme, said it was difficult to bring the dumpers to court as they had to be caught in the act and there had to be signs forbidding dumping.

He added that a 2011 law classing garden clippings and mower cuttings as domestic refuse had exacerbated the situation.

Fly tipping is a growing problem in France where it is estimated that between one and two million tonnes of rubbish are dumped each year – with much of it being blamed on auto-entrepreneurs and other small businesses who do not want to pay the déchetterie fee.

However, in our latest issue The Connexion shows that France recycles only a fifth of the 354million tonnes of waste it produces each year – and déchetteries are filling up rapidly.

* Our four-page feature – which includes an article on Dordogne’s success in hitting EU targets and a look at Zero-Waste lifestyles – is in the October issue of Connexion which is arriving at newsagents at the end of this week. You can find us at newsagents across France. Use www.findthepressinFrance.com to find your nearest stockist – or click here to download a pdf version now for €3.80.

Pollution à Marseille: la vidéo choc

Waste above ground is a very visible problem but it goes deeper as ecologist divers from anti-dumping group Sea Shepherd found when diving just off beaches near Marseille – this video shows the amount of rubbish out at sea.