Every year, the Association des Villes pour la Propreté Urbaine awards several French towns with its “Ville Eco-propre” label. The label is awarded to towns committed to keeping their public spaces clean. And this year, one of the winners was a town near Paris. Le Havre, the Pearl of the North. A magnificent city just 2 hours from Paris, Le Havre stood out this year for all its efforts! Paris still hasn’t been awarded the “Eco-clean City” label…
Lille, one of France’s cleanest cities by 2025
Each year, the Association des Villes pour la Propreté Urbaine awards its stars to the most exemplary cities in terms of cleanliness. The label is made up of 5 stars:
- The first star is reserved for towns that apply the AVPU’s assessment methodology: Indicateurs Objectifs de Propreté (IOP), which is a sort of inventory of the town’s cleanliness.
- The second star is awarded to cities that have begun to implement an action plan.
- The third star is awarded to communities committed to cleaning and sustainable development.
- The fourth star is awarded to towns and cities that encourage residents to take part in clean-up initiatives in public spaces through targeted campaigns.
- The fifth star is awarded to towns and cities with an action plan that includes proposals on all aspects of urban cleanliness.
Among the 45 2025 winners, Le Havre (the closest to Paris in this ranking) particularly stood out, winning a fifth star! Along with Antibes, Le Havre is the only city to have been awarded a fifth star this year. A label that will last for three years, and a consecration for Le Havre town hall, which explains:
“Cleanliness is moreover among the few items whose budget has been increased in 2024, with an additional effort of 1.6 million euros.”
The resources allocated have made it possible, for example, to set up 7 recycling points, regular garbage collections and some fifty clean-up operations involving citizens. The result? The city is clean and pleasant, and we intend to keep it that way for years to come!
To date, Paris has never featured in this ranking…