CITY OF LIGHT BECOMES CITY OF GARBAGE: 10,000 TONNES PILE UP
What actually happened: 10,000 tonnes of uncollected trash in Paris as garbage collectors strike over pension reform
IDIOCRACY LEVEL: 8/10
During strikes against France's 2023 pension reform, Paris garbage collectors walked out and incinerators stood idle. City Hall estimated about 10,000 tonnes of uncollected rubbish had piled up on the streets by mid-March 2023.
Waste report: in March 2023 the most romantic city in the world disappeared beneath roughly ten thousand tonnes of its own trash. Collectors were on strike over the retirement age, the incinerators were stopped, and the bags simply kept coming. Tourists photographed the mounds next to famous landmarks. Historians consider it an early rehearsal for the Great Garbage Avalanche of 2505.