“Over 30,000 views and 200 comments in one hour! “We share shocking content every day, we did not think that this post was going to grow to such an extent”, confides this Friday Céline Albinet, director of Clean my Calanques. The video, it must be said, attacks a strong symbol: the Mc Donald’s restaurant in the Old Port in Marseille.
Filmed by a volunteer from the association, it shows an employee emptying a large white container of liquids in the middle of the street. It is published on Instagram, first in story then, in front of the number of shares, in post with this comment: “Do you mind throwing your old frying oil down the drain? “.
Leftover beverages instead of oil?
On Twitter, Rebecca Bernardi, elected in charge of trade, shares the video and promises “not to stop there”. In the meantime, Clean My Calanques has unpublished the post to “not make fake news”. Among the comments, former McDonald’s employees explained that this container did not contain frying oil but the remains of drinks, emptied by customers before throwing their cup to be recycled. However, the indignation remains total: “It is not because it is less harmful that it is less scandalous, we cannot do that, it goes directly into the Old Port and into the sea”, reacts Céline Albinet.
On the town hall side, the file was sent to Christine Juste, environmental assistant, who intends to hold the McDo Vieux-Port to account, according to her the “biggest franchisee in Marseille”. “Whether it’s oil, coffee juice, drinks, dishwater, it’s forbidden to throw in the gutter, here begins the sea, she is indignant. There it is a symbol, but McDo is a problem among others. She also recalls the legal obligation for the franchisee to “clean all around his waste within a radius of 300 meters”. To see the brand’s bags and cups overflowing the surrounding bins, compliance with this rule raises questions.