Plastic bags hanging from tree branches and a pile of cans, plastic bottles, tree trunks and unidentified floating objects.
Once the flood has passed, this is what can be found everywhere along the banks of the Seine.
It then remains to clear the space.
But who is responsible for it?
In truth, to no one.
And that's the whole problem.
To date, no legal framework makes it possible to determine precisely which communities or bodies are competent in this area.
And all the possible actors evoke "a complex subject", even more than that of illegal deposits.
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Because with regard to floating waste, it is impossible to release clear responsibilities or to enforce the principle of the polluter pays.
In fact, some local elected officials say they are “destitute”.
"We know it will happen again but nothing is happening"
"The problem is that we recover everything that comes from upstream and in particular from Paris", points out Cédric Pemba-Marine, the mayor (MoDem) of Port-Marly, "a city that we made sure to shoot towards the Seine ”, his main breathing space.
The elected official, who "does not accuse anyone", says he wants to "try to find solutions" to an increasingly recurring problem.
"We have already been confronted with it and we know that it will happen again but nothing is happening", regrets the young mayor of 36 years, highlighting an additional problem for this flood of 2021: "That of the masks that are thrown in sewers.
"
In Méricourt, in 2018, a real oil spill of waste had formed at the dam.
LP / MG
In February 2018, an image had strongly marked the spirits.
That of this impressive pile of waste at the Méricourt dam.
Almost 200 tonnes in all.
At the time, the mayor (SE) of the town, Philippe Geslan, had already sounded the alarm.
A vast collection operation had been carried out by the agglomeration with the technical support of the Voies navigables de France (VNF), but also the reinforcement of the teams of the mayor of Paris and the support of the Ile-de-France region.
"Once in the Seine, the waste does not belong to anyone"
Now withdrawn from local political life, the former elected official has looked into the issue for a long time.
In 2019 and 2020, he also participated in a working group for the Ministry of the Environment.
And for him, the observation is clear: “It is not the competence of anyone.
Everyone is trying to pass the buck because the question is who is going to pay.
The municipalities do not have the means and VNF, whose profession is navigation, does what it can.
"
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As for the built-up areas, "they are responsible for the collection and treatment of domestic waste which is financed by the tax on household waste," he explains.
But imported waste, "it is not their responsibility".
In short, “there is no global policy and there is no responsible, denounces Philippe Geslan.
Once in the Seine, the waste does not belong to anyone.
"Then once the pollution episode has passed," we forget until the next flood. "
According to the former mayor of Méricourt, “someone would have to have the courage to bring everyone around the table”.
A collective reflection to be carried out
This is precisely what Cédric Pemba-Marine is proposing to do today.
The latter launches an appeal "to all stakeholders" in the river: associations, elected officials, public bodies and private professionals.
While specifying that the issue of waste is not its “core business”, VNF already explains that it collects “everything that is recoverable at the level of the structures and could hinder navigation”.
The operator also ensures “working with communities” for occasional interventions.
Another example in Méricourt where a new waste extraction operation has been organized in recent days.
“Sensitive” to the question, VNF says it is “open” to a broader discussion.
On the side of the mixed union for the development of the banks of the Seine and the Oise (SMSO), we recognize that "the real difficulty is the absence of a single interlocutor".
“I have never seen a text.
Things are being done without a framework when a real policy should be put in place, ”said President Daniel Level, who also said he was ready“ to participate in collective reflection ”.
The round table is starting to take shape.
Already a starting point.
Associations on the front line
Faced with this inertia, it is most often volunteers at the call of municipalities or members of associations who, when spring comes, put on their boots and gloves to erase the visible traces of the floods.
The operation “Berges Saines”, organized by the association La Seine enShare is the best example of this, even if within the association, we recognize that these large collections are ultimately “peanuts” compared to the immensity of the area. problem.
The SOS Mal de Seine association, which works between Rouen and the estuary, estimates that the quantity of only plastics passing through the Seine is “100 to 200 tonnes”.
"It's simple, you have the impression of being on a checkout mat in a supermarket," explains its president Laurent Colasse.
We see everything we find in supermarkets.
" But not only.
One of the emblematic waste on the banks of the Seine is… cotton swabs.
"Our study participated in its ban", underlines this chemist from the University of Rouen, who also says to recover a lot of medical or paramedical products, which would suppose flaws in the system of collection and treatment.
Or, as Laurent Colasse envisions “the existence of waste trafficking channels”.
In the south of the Oise, an "environmental lawless zone"
Well upstream, in the south of the department of Oise, there is no lack of illegal dumps and illegal dumps along the river.
Various waste, hydrocarbons, household appliances, vehicles… So many pollutants found in the water during floods, or even simple rains.
An "area of environmental lawlessness", considers VNF.
Spurred on by the Creil Sud Oise agglomeration, a Departmental Anti-Fraud Operational Committee (Codaf), dedicated to this environmental crime, should be set up soon, bringing together all the players concerned.
From the public prosecutor to the French Biodiversity Office, through elected officials and the police station, all intend to work together.
And to act effectively, they agree on one point: it is necessary to reclaim the edges of the water.
“There are areas where no more plot near the Oise is in the public domain, details Thierry Brochot, deputy mayor of Creil.
The city wants to regain control of the land in order to recover a strip of a few meters of land along the river and, thus, better monitor what is happening there.
"