In Marseille, in the Malpassé district, nearly 200 young people aged 8 to 16 gathered to clean the streets and pick up litter.
Saturday, May 14, nearly 200 young people gathered in the Malpassé district, in Marseille, for a waste collection operation. Aged 8 to 16, they came together to clean up the streets of the neighbourhood.
This appeal was launched by Samir Messikh, founder of the “Place des Farandoleurs” association, which works for the social and educational development of children in the Malpassé district. With the “Le Grand Bleu” association, which introduces children to nautical activities, the Malpassé social center, the Cedars mosque and the Marseille Provence Habitat organisation, he has set up a large-scale operation.
“It’s a neighborhood that was renovated a few years ago. It’s very recent and the fact of seeing the neighborhood getting dirty, deteriorating, it saddens us , regretted Samir Messikh. The idea is to provoke a general, total awareness, so that the public authorities take up the problem. It is also necessary that the inhabitants appropriate the places of life so that they get involved, and ensure that young people are aware of the environment.»
The Malpassé district has been delimited into four distinct zones, in order to distribute the 200 young people present for the event. For a morning, the latter picked up the waste in the streets.
«It’s important that we are there to remove the garbage because we also have to preserve the planet and nature ,» said Nadjm, an 11-year-old boy. And there are a lot of cans, plastic bottles, glass, cardboard packaging…”
Although some residents are sensitive to the sorting of garbage , no selective sorting bin has been installed in this district. In total, the young people present this Saturday managed to fill 130 bags and 10 dumpsters with waste in one morning.