Paris breathes easier as refuse workers’ strike called off and rubbish cleared

Rubbish in a street in Paris on Monday. At the time of the strike suspension on Tuesday afternoon, City Hall said an estimated 7,000 tonnes of rubbish remained uncollected. Photograph: Carl Court/Getty Images

The smell of spring is in the air in Paris. It makes a change from the stench of overflowing bins that had hung over the French capital for the last three weeks after refuse collectors went on strike and up to 10,000 metric tonnes of festering rubbish piled up on the streets.

Hours after the CGT trade union announced it was suspending the industrial action and lifting a blockade of incinerators serving the city, much of the rubbish had gone.