Anderlecht's city council turned on Thursday evening to the issue of public hygiene, as residents and councillors raised concerns about waste collection, staffing shortages and unequal treatment between neighbourhoods.
After a difficult debate on security, the issue was brought before the council through a citizens’ interpellation, several questions from elected members and a motion raised by the Belgian Workers' Party, PTB, calling for more transparency and fairness in the municipality’s cleanliness policy.
Speaking on behalf of several Cureghem neighbourhoods, one resident called for an independent, external audit of the service. He mentioned understaffed teams, ageing equipment, cancelled rounds, staff departures, transfer requests and high absenteeism.
He also asked the municipal executive whether there had been cases of pressure or harassment within the service and whether a psychosocial risk assessment had been carried out.
Ecolo's Bekay Chihi criticised the build-up of rubbish around the abattoir's site and the suspension of weekend street sweeping at Clemenceau despite the area’s heavy footfall. He asked what measures had been put in place and whether resources would be increased.
Cleanliness alderman Achille Vandyck of MR said a weekend sweeping team would return after the events scheduled in September. He said the service had lost a large share of its Article 60 contract workers and was gradually rebuilding staffing levels, including through First internships.
Vandyck defended what he called a “deep transformation” of the service under the Cleanliness 2030 plan, which includes 38 measures. The municipality currently has 22 mobile cameras and plans to double that number over time.
In the first half of 2026, the municipality recorded 621 illegal dumping incidents, 301 of which were detected using cameras.
A cooperation agreement with Abattoir SA is still being negotiated. The company told 'La Dernière Heure' this week that it already cleans some pavements near the market but refuses to deal with waste for which it is not responsible.
