Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- No more littering around the city that no one is responsible for. That is the ambition of the Brussels policy strategy clean.brussels. With cleanliness managers, extra budget for the municipalities and, above all, better cooperation between the competent authorities, Brussels Minister of Public Cleanliness Alain Maron (Ecolo) wants to tackle the problem of litter.
According to a BRUZZ reporter on Tuesday, Maron presented clean.brussels, the new strategic plan for urban cleanliness. This plan consists of 65 measures that together should prevent nuisance caused by garbage bags or illegal dumping. One of the working points is better cooperation between the various levels of government.
In concrete terms, a Council for Cooperation between the municipalities and the Region has been set up, bringing fifty actors around the table. This ranges from the nineteen municipalities, the six police zones, Bruxelles Prototype and other regional administrations to the neighbourhood committees and restaurants that produce a lot of waste or organise recycling groups.
This cooperation is important to tackle litter, says the mayor of Ixelles, Christos Doulkeridis (Ecolo), who receives complaints every day from residents about waste in their neighbourhood. In the past, Doulkeridis often had to answer that the municipality was not competent.
Take, for example, Place Flagey, which is the responsibility of the Region, while Place Sainte-Croix is owned by the municipality for the building. In such border areas, waste often remains lying around because it is unclear to the collection services who collects the waste.
Brussels Minister of Public Cleanliness Alain Maron (Ecolo) talks about the cleanliness managers.
Cleanliness managers
Especially in busy, emblematic places such as Place Flagey, Place Liedts, Mont des Arts or South Station – the gateway for international travellers – it is especially important that no dirt remains. That is why there is a cleanliness manager for those places. These ‘Public Zone Managers’ have already started during a first pilot project in four locations. After a positive evaluation, Maron wants to institutionalise the function ‘Manager of public space’.
In this way, cleanliness managers also contribute to resolving conflicts of authority. As a reminder, throughout the region, the municipalities are responsible for the cleanliness of more than a thousand municipal roads. The regional agency Net Brussel is responsible for the regional roads, about 530 roads in total. Brussels Environment is responsible for the cleanliness of 142 parks.
Illegal dumping
But in addition to the jurisdictional problems, illegal dumping is also a major problem in the city. The Brussels Region has 30,000 tons of litter and illegal dumping every year. Maron therefore announces that he wants to increase the offer of recycling points, giveaway points and chemical waste collection points. Net Brussels also wants to handle complaints about cleanliness more quickly.
Another notable measure is the specific budgets for which the municipalities can apply. To do this, municipalities must first participate in the call for projects. But this way they can invest an additional 2.4 million in their own cleanliness policy. In total, the Brussels government has released 80 million euros for the next three years.
