Brussels, (Brussels Morning)- More and more Brussels municipalities are confronted with waste tourists: people from Flanders and Wallonia who leave their waste bags in Brussels. “Every year we handle 400 to 500 files in Brussels in which we can identify the perpetrator,” says Alain Martens to a BRUZZ reporter, He is the Director of Investigation and Verbalization at waste manager Net Brussel. The problem is especially visible in the Brussels suburbs.
After the corona crisis, Brussels is revived again, which is especially noticeable thanks to the many tourists. In recent months, our capital has also become acquainted with a variant of this: the waste tourist. More and more municipalities are faced with Flemings and Walloons who want to dump their waste bags on Brussels territory.
The problem is said to be particularly visible in peripheral municipalities such as Schaerbeek, Berchem-Sainte-Agathe, Anderlecht and Auderghem. “Although we have recently noticed that people are more often diving deeper into the city to leave garbage bags behind,” Alain Martens, Director of Investigation and Verbalization at waste manager Net Brussel, “and especially in places where much more waste is collected, or close to the site. where the person’s employer is located.”
According to Net Brussel, it is mainly residents from the Flemish and Walloon suburbs who illegally dump in Brussels, but occasionally they come from much further. “We have already identified people who come from Antwerp or Willebroek.”
In total, Net Brussel handles about 2000 PVs of illegal dumping per year. “A quarter of those files are about Flemings and Walloons who leave garbage bags here in Brussels.”
Cheaper in Brussels
The reason why people from Flanders and Wallonia more often leave their waste in Brussels is because it is cheaper here, according to Net Brussel. “In Brussels you don’t pay any tax on the waste bag, so you pay the commercial price here,” explains Martens. “In Flanders and in Wallonia you pay 1 to 2 euros more for a waste bag.”
In concrete terms, this would concern people who do not live in the capital and who buy waste bags here at a favourable price, and then dump their waste bags in the city.
The affected municipalities
Net Brussel can identify people in two ways: camera images are one of them. “We recently installed cameras in Sint-Agatha-Berchem and in one month we were able to set up eighty PVs.”
Although those cameras are not equally strong everywhere. “There are signs in Auderghem stating that you are not allowed to fly illegally, but there is not much control,” Matthieu Pillois, alderman of the Public Space in Auderghem (DéFi) told the French-language newspaper La Dernière Heure.
According to the alderman of Public Cleanliness, Deborah Lorenzino (DéFi), the area around the E40 and the Van Praet bridge is being targeted in Schaerbeek. “People often have a bond with Schaerbeek: they visit the family, work in Schaerbeek, have lived there…”
In Anderlecht, Alderman for Cleanliness Allan Neuzy (Ecolo) also confirms that waste tourism exists in their municipality. “We especially notice that it happens at football matches. Some come to the stadium and take the opportunity to leave their waste bags here,” says Neuzy. “It is difficult to identify these people.”
Fines
Nevertheless, Net Brussel emphasises that the fines are high for those who illegally dump here. “You have to know that these people do not finance the waste collection in their own region, but they also do not pay taxes in Brussels, so the government is then cheated twice,” says Martens.
The fine depends on several factors. “You pay a 75 euro fine per waste bag that you leave here, or 150 euros if you have not sorted it,” says Martens. In addition, there is an additional fine of 250 euros, so the costs can be high at the end of the ride.”
