collected in containers, the croutons will no longer feed the pigeons, but farm animals.
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This is the story of a handful of inhabitants of the city of Mulhouse, exasperated by the presence of rats near the squares of their neighborhood and unhappy to have to throw their dry bread in the trash. To avoid the feeding of animals in public space and fight against food waste, they launched within the participatory council of their sector a reassis bread collection project. Four containers have been installed, since the end of June, in places in the district known to be the subject of wild deposits. The volumes collected are made available to surrounding agricultural operations.
The installation was covered by the city, as part of the budget allocated to the development of participatory democracy. It is also the municipal agents who regularly empty the containers and carry out a first sorting, to keep only the bread still consumable by animals. But the involvement of the municipality stops there.
victim of its success
It was the inhabitants themselves who thought about the type of container to be made available to the public – small collection containers with roller bins, to facilitate the collection of bread. The same imagined their dressing, with the help of a communication agency, to encourage residents of the Manufactures district to appropriate this new sorting gesture. Everyone then approached friends and knowledge to find a first farmer ready to enhance this somewhat special collection.
“Communities did not have an answer to deal with the problem. The project really left the inhabitants and was made with them,” confirms David Malas, president of the participative council of this Bigarré district. Anxious not to see their efforts recovered for political purposes, the members of the Council also preferred to freeze the project on the eve of the municipal elections, while the containers were already ready. “Then, it was [the pandemic of] Covid-19 who prevented us from meeting, indicates a representative of the inhabitants. At the restart of the participatory bodies, in the spring, this project was therefore the first on the list.”
“The projects launched within the framework of participatory democracy usually have a playful dimension. This is different, because it integrates an environmental connotation and a real civic commitment”, recognizes Florian Colom, the elected referent of the piece. Barely launched, the system is also victim of its success. With bins filled in a few days and a first collection made up of more than 40 % of products consuming by animals, the initiative made it possible to collect more bread than what was envisaged. Too much, in any case, to be absorbed by a single farm. “When we launched this project, we had no idea of the volumes concerned. We are only volunteer residents, we could not afford to study and research. Now, our main challenge is to find People ready to enhance this stale bread. The volumes at stake are enormous, “says David Malas.
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