"Use the yellow wastebaskets please"

Marc explains the news from France. And bitches about it, too.

En français ci-dessous.

Read the article HERE.

So it appears that the RATP, the operator of the Paris public transportation system, is jerking us around when it installs those yellow wastebaskets on the metro platforms. The yellow wastebaskets are intended for waste to be recycled, but it turns out that the RATP simply puts the contents of the yellow wastebaskets in with the regular trash.

The RATP blames the city of Paris, which only collects recyclables twice a week. The RATP collects far too much of the stuff to be able to store onsite pending collection.

So far... not so good. If you know you can't recycle the stuff, asking people to sort their trash is simply a big lie aimed at giving the firm a better image. It's worse than "greenwashing".

A bit farther... not good at all. Where does this huge bulk of recyclable waste come from? Almost all of it is paper, and almost all the paper comes from free newspapers distributed within the metro itself. The RATP publishes its own free weekly paper, a large-format publication entitled "A nous Paris!". It also has a lucrative contract with the morning and evening free papers published by the group owned by Vincent Bolloré (the friend of Nicolas Sarkozy, on whose yacht the man of the people spent his post-election holiday).

Recap: RATP generates huge amounts of waste paper. RATP pretends to collect the waste paper for recycling. RATP doesn't recycle. RATP is a big fat liar, and we are all chumps.

-----
Vous avez lu l'article ? Alors je serai bref. La RATP se donne une bonne image de marque comme entreprise verte en installant des poubelles jaunes sur les quais du métro. Mais au lieu de recycler leur contenu, elle le mélange avec les déchets non-recyclés. Ca coûte pas cher une poubelle jaune, et ça rapporte bien en image.

Pire, le plus gros des déchets des poubelles jaunes, c'est du papier, et le plus gros du papier, c'est les journaux gratuits. Lesquels journaux gratuits sont distribués... par la RATP elle-même : son hebdo gros format "A nous Paris!" et les deux quotidiens gratuits de Bolloré, qui paie à la Régie le droit de s'installer dans l'enceinte du métro. Bravo !

Chers voyageurs, nous sommes encore une foie le dindon...