Le Figaro Marseille
“With the mistral, we sometimes see plastic bags flying and stuck in our trees. We have been collecting it every day at our house for several months. Plus, there is this unpleasant smell some days. It smells like rotten fish and corpses
,” say Alain and Marie-Claude.
The couple, owners of a pretty house nestled on the slopes of Ventrons, a locality dependent on the commune of Martigues, have been collateral victims of the Vallon du Fou landfill for many months.
The waste treatment center, opened in 2009, collects garbage from many surrounding communities.
Although most of the waste is processed out of sight, a good portion is carried by the wind out of the landfill fences and ends up on the slopes of the valley.
On site, the observation is staggering: hundreds of plastic bags, cardboard packaging and other debris of all kinds sit in the open air on a hill, polluting the soil and vegetation already badly damaged by an arson which had ravaged hundreds of hectares of trees during the summer of 2020.
The Vallon du Fou landfill leaves its waste lying around
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“There’s everything: plastic bags, confidential mail…”
confesses Alain.
He and his partner have lived near Vallon du Fou since 2019. For the past few months, not a week has passed without it being necessary to climb trees to collect waste carried by the wind.
Same observation for their neighbor Thierry, a native of the town and very upset by the situation:
“If they don't put a net, the waste will always fly away.
Sometimes they send people to clean, but they never go to the right place
,” he sighs.
“The worst part is the smells.
They affect everyone here, and more and more.
“It’s the topic of conversation at the moment
,” confesses Marie-Claude.
The waste problem is indeed only the visible part of the iceberg.
On the path leading to the hill, a pestilential odor is released without its origin being able to be determined.
In reality, these fumes come from sewage sludge buried underground by the landfill's numerous machines.
This sludge lets out fumes with an odor that is difficult to bear and is carried by the wind towards the homes in the neighborhood.
“A neighbor sent letters to the metropolis, but nothing was done
,” testify Alain and Marie-Claude, disappointed.
They don't care, yet there have already been fires in the recycling center.
Before, when the town hall took care of waste, things went better
Alain and Marie-Claude, neighbors of the Vallon du Fou landfill
Contacted, the Martigues town hall was not immediately reachable.
There remains the metropolis of Aix-Marseille-Provence, which officially aspired to the city on January 1, 2023, and which thus finds itself competent on this subject.
It promises through its vice-president, Roland Mouren, that the rubbish which litters the slopes of the Ventrons will disappear at the beginning of February.
“A collection will take place soon to remove plastic waste.
This waste should not have ended up in the trash after sorting.
There is a combination of circumstances that we do not deny,”
assures Roland Mouren, also delegate for cleanliness, prevention and waste recovery for the metropolis.
What about the unbearable smell emanating from the surrounding area?
Here again, the metropolis promises that the scents should stop soon.
“We want to stop burying sewage sludge by June, they need specific treatment
,” continues Roland Mouren, assuring that this situation predates the reorganization of the territory carried out by the metropolis.
“We are working on all fronts to reorganize trash collection.
The territory of Martigues had opted for the solution of burying waste for a long time.
We want to put an end to this choice
,” he pleads, assuring that the odors
“have improved”
and that the situation
is “going in the right direction”
.
Arguments which are far from convincing the residents of the Vallon du Fou waste treatment center.
“They don't care, yet there have already been fires in the recycling center.
Before, when the town hall took care of waste, things went better
,” Alain and Marie-Claude despair.