- After eight weeks of waiting, partial deconfinement starts this Monday in France.
- Cashiers, doctors, police, delivery people, garbage collectors ... 20 Minutes gives the floor to those who continued to work during confinement.
- Mickaël, ripeur at the Toulouse Métropole waste collection service, recalls this very special period which certainly changed the way people look at his job.
They are among those who could not remain confined. By continuing to go out, every day, to go to work, they allowed everyone to heal, to feed themselves, and to save the economy from collapsing. Ripeur at the household waste collection service of Toulouse Métropole, Mickaël, 45, continued to provide his service when the vast majority of the population of the Pink City was caulked at home. He talks to 20 Minutes about this two-month period apart.
The containers line up in the Terrasse district, a residential sector in Toulouse. Hanging from the back of the truck, Mickaël, 45, goes back and forth to collect household waste from the awakening population. Gestures that he continued to make during these two months of confinement due to the coronavirus epidemic, like most of his colleagues at the Monlong depot. Except for those with fragile health, all answered the call, overcoming the fear of being in contact with the Covid-19.
“Since the start of confinement, we have been redoubled our vigilance, we have taken a lot more safety distance, in relation to us and users. We are very careful about what we pick up. The community has provided us with all the equipment necessary to work in optimal safety conditions. We were also able to shift the hours so as not to be all together, everything was suitable so that we work in the best possible conditions, ”says the Toulouse Métropole agent in his distinctive yellow and green outfit.
Far from the clichés
The one that the Chevaliers du Fiel made popular in the course of their countless sketches on municipal officials and their lots of photos of their work. There, impossible to say that they did not work. On the contrary, they were among the only ones to be on the front. “The atmosphere was a bit odd compared to usual, that's for sure, but hey, we have to ensure the collection so that everyone can live a minimum as usual. People consume more, they are at home, they eat midday and evening, which makes that on the trash, it feels a lot, "said the urban cleansing agent.
And this shadow work, he knows, is no longer looked at in the same way by the population. “We had a lot of support messages, which made us very happy. Words on the bins, lots of applause from the windows too, which helped us move forward. Some have recovered the words to keep them in memory, "says Mickaël while his colleague has just put a trash can in front of a villa on which we can read" thank you ".
Our file on deconfinement
“We also had gifts, cakes, we really see people's recognition. I think tomorrow we will be more visible than today, I think people have realized how important we can be in everyday life. It has changed the relationship with the population, ”notes the forties, with a smile riveted to his lips. While still two months ago, motorists spent their time complaining trapped behind the garbage truck, the men in yellow and green hope that tomorrow they will not all have forgotten the words of solidarity spoken during these two months of galley.
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- Coronavirus
- Toulouse
- Thank you
- epidemic
- Waste
- Testimony
- Deconfinement
- Society