Some of the most interesting things that were found throughout the endeavor were over 100 bicycles – from the Vélib’ rental system. One resident named Marc told The Guardian, “I just can’t believe the quantity that are in there. I guess they were stolen and thrown in afterwards.”
That does seem like a plausible explanation in Paris, where nearly 1,400 bikes go missing every single day, according to The Local. With almost 800,000 of the things disappearing yearly, it’s no wonder they found so many heaps of them hiding in the canal.
The actual dewatering began on the 4th day of January, and took several days to even clear enough of the liquid out to begin the next phase. Then, by the 7th, they were ready to begin sifting through all of the unburied trash…and treasure.
In such a crowded city, you can imagine all of the garbage that finds its way to the canal. The people of Paris were shocked by what they were seeing.
Once the water receded, officials were left looking at the heaps of garbage in the empty canal. The revelation gave them a greater perspective as to how much trash gets dumped in the water in Paris.
But perhaps even odder than all of the garbage they found was the random treasure-like objects. At least they were treasures, considering how strange it was to see these things tossed aside.
Although, considering that the bike company has only existed since 2007, the numbers are definitely high. Another resident told the publication that “bobos,” which is what the locals call all of the young, new people flooding into the city, are responsible for the trash.
“That’s Paris for you, it’s filthy,” said one man. “I don’t remember there being that much rubbish in there. Bobos are using it as a dustbin.” And speaking of the bobos, they all lined the bridges, along with the locals, to see what else was going to be removed from the canal.
Bicycles aren’t the only form of transportation that authorities recovered. Although they didn’t find nearly as many, they did find a couple of motor scooters beneath the murky water as well. It’s kind of shocking that there were only two found, while they found so many bikes.
Even if they were stolen – especially if they were stolen – you’d think the thieves would have sold them for more money, not just dumped them in the river.