Brussels has announced a new proposal to reform waste collection, which would result in several changes for residents, RTBF reported on Thursday.
Spearheaded by Audrey Henry (MR), state secretary for waste management and public cleanliness, the reform would see three major changes to rubbish collections in the Brussels-Capital Region, according to RTBF.
Firstly, yellow bags (cardboard and paper) would only be collected once a fortnight, rather than once a week.
"The switch from weekly to fortnightly collection of yellow bags is based on actual usage patterns. Households put out their paper and cardboard on average every two weeks," Henry explained.
"Maintaining a weekly collection schedule results in under-filled collection rounds, unproductive mileage and costs in terms of both manpower and finances."
Credit: The Brussels Times
Secondly, Henry is pushing for white bags (unsorted household waste) to be collected just once a week. In some municipalities, this is already the case, but the state secretary wants to scrap the biweekly schedule in the remaining communes.
Finally, she is calling for the collection of orange bags (organic waste) to be ramped up in densely populated neighbourhoods, with collections taking place twice a week.
To enforce the changes, Henry is also considering establishing a rapid-response unit to tackle hotspots to increase awareness of public cleanliness and reduce illegal dumping.
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None of these changes is set in stone yet. The reform still needs to be discussed by the trade unions and staff at the regional agency Brussels Cleanliness. However, if it goes ahead, the state secretary says it should lead to savings: the adapted collection service would need 65 fewer rubbish collectors, who would be assigned to other tasks.
It's unclear when these changes will take effect, but the current collection system is likely to remain in place for at least the next year.
For more information on how bin collections work in Brussels, how to dispose of different types of waste and fines for not sorting waste correctly, read our guide.
