Jean-Claude Coulleau took the lead. No question for this faithful of the Beauregard residence, in Melun (Seine-et-Marne), to discover one fine day that during the renovation of his building the garbage chutes were condemned. “These hatches are really practical for everyone! », he says. In May, the 83-year-old former taxi driver therefore took up his pen, as president of the Association for the Defense of Tenants and the Living Environment of the Melun conurbation, and alerted the officials. The rehabilitation of Beauregard, yes. These buildings built in the early 1960s to accommodate returnees from Algeria need it. The end of garbage chutes, no.
“Those who decide that do not live in our buildings like me since 1964gets annoyed Jean-Claude Coulleau. So much so that they take measures contrary to our interests. Without a garbage chute, we’re going to be in trouble. The elderly who have a cane, the handicapped, how are they going to take out their garbage cans, when there is no elevator in the four-storey buildings: by putting them around their necks? » Habitat 77, the HLM office, quickly answered him: don’t panic, “the studies have not started”, nothing is decided. Not enough to calm the representative of the tenants. “Little by little, we remove all the achievementshe cursed. To get milk, you will soon have to go to the farm to milk the cows yourself. There is something to revolt, right? »
Jean-Claude Coulleau is not alone in fighting for his dear garbage chute, this ex-symbol of progress now endangered. In Paris, at 64, rue Compans (19e district), the anger has already exploded. Here too, the tenants had mobilized upstream. But the discussions with the social landlord, the Régie immobilière de la Ville de Paris (RIVP), have not deviated from the course of history. Since the end of March, the garbage chutes of the three thirteen-storey bars have all been condemned. On each landing, the varnished wooden door that allowed access is double locked. “Permanent closure of VOs”, specifies a small poster, asking the tenants to come down to deposit their waste “on the ground floor for small volumes”, “at – 3 for large volumes and bio-waste”. “You see, it’s written: ‘Permanent closure’, when they promised us a three-month test”, annoys Isabelle P., the president of the association of tenants, a civil servant who prefers to remain anonymous.
A mark of distinction
The residents did not let go. For months, they have multiplied the actions. A petition was signed by 85% of tenants. stickers “I am opposed to the closure of the VOs” bloomed on mailboxes. The elected officials were inundated with mail and requests for appointments. Dialog of the deaf. “If the RIVP reopens the rubbish chutes, we are ready to do a lot of education to encourage residents to sort their waste”, explains the president of the friendly. Otherwise, “We are considering a selective sorting strike…”
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