Heaps, mounds, and piles of it are growing daily, and in some places are higher than a human being.
A strike by Paris garbage collectors on Tuesday is taking a toll on the renowned aesthetics of the French capital and is a blight on the City of Light, as it begins its 16th day on Tuesday.
Vincent Salazar, a 62 year old artistic consultant, lives in a tony Left Bank neighbourhood, joked I prefer Chanel to the stink. A pile of garbage sits in the corner of his building overlooking the Luxembourg Gardens.
He said that he saw rats.
Salazar doesn't mind, like many nonchalant and strike-hardened Parisians.
I am fortunate to live here, but I am 200 per cent behind these guys, Salazar said. He said they're smelling it all day long, but it wasn't exactly the word he used. He is among the majority of French who oppose President Emmanuel Macron's decision to raise the retirement age by two years, from 62 to 64 for most and from 57 to 59 for garbage collectors, according to polls.