Litter in the Calanques

Combatting anti-social habits and making users responsible

A bin for life

Until the 1990s, litter bins could be found in the natural areas of the Calanques, particularly in En-Vau and Port-Pin: the French National Foresty Office (ONF) would remove several cubic metres of waste from them per week. The presence of these bins, in addition to detracting from the character of the area, did not encourage visitors to realise that they were entering an area distinct from the city, a fragile and preserved natural area that requires different thinking and action. In addition, they posed several problems: dispersion of waste (especially due to wind), increased risk of fire, vehicle traffic for collection, etc.

On the initiative of the ONF and with the help of the Conservatoire du Littoral and local authorities, the bins were removed from the Calanques National Park and signs were put up to encourage visitors to take their waste home with them. Since then, however, we have witnessed the phenomenon of "invisible bins": users continue to abandon their waste in the places that the bins once occupied...

Developping eco-citizen responsibility

The problem of waste dumping by users is more widespread in the most popular sites of the National Park (southern coastline of Marseille between Mont Rose and Callelongue, Luminy and Sugiton, the Calanques accessible from Cassis, the Calanques de La Ciotat), particularly during busy periods (spring weekends and the summer season). Although rubbish collection is not one of the National Park's missions, they are often forced to do so.

In order to both combat bad behaviour and mobilise goodwill, the National Park is implementing and participating in various operations:

• Coastal clean-up days, such as those at Cap Canaille, Cap Croisette, Les Goudes, Callelongue and En-Vau
• The "Bons gestes" (Good Habit) campaign: read the press release (in French)
• Le "flagrant délit de bon geste" (good habits  in flagrante delicto): 2019 and 2020 editions
• Les Pirates du Plastique (Plastic Pirates): in 2021

Some of these campaigns are carried out jointly with numerous organisations: Clean my Calanques, the Club Alpin Marseille Provence, Anotherway, 1 déchet par jour, CPIE, Naturoscope, Mer Veille, etc.