Limburg (Brussels Morning Newspaper) – During the last year, 7% of families in Limburg have failed to pick up their at-home waste collection credits. These households obtain multiple household waste bag rolls even though they need to pay part of the waste tax obligation.
The residents of Limburg ignored their waste bags worth almost 1 million euros in 2024, based on data from Limburg.net. A total of 14.34 % of families, amounting to one in seven, failed to retrieve their required residual waste bags while covering waste tax expenses.
The refusal rate of families to claim their provided waste bags decreased slightly since 2022 when 17 % of families left their bags unclaimed compared to 10 per cent in earlier periods. The collected waste bags worth 993,350 euros from non-recyclers will support environmental sustainability initiatives through a designated fund.
According to Raf Coenen, who speaks for Limburg.net, the waste bags remain uncollected because of multiple factors. Self-employed families, alongside other individuals, dispose of waste through special private waste containers. The second reason for uncollected waste bags is either forgetfulness or people mistakenly assuming their trash was collected by mistake. Several households possess extra waste bags that they do not need to acquire additional ones at this time.
“You can exchange unused bags at our Smart Sorting Points, about which you can find all the information on our website .”
“You can exchange them for a different type of garbage bag, such as PMD bags or yellow kitchen waste bags. But you can also exchange them for train tickets, cinema tickets or vouchers for a garden shop, for example,”
Says Coenen.
The “surplus” of tax money therefore goes to a sustainability fund, which municipalities can call upon to finance sustainable projects.
“With this, the Limburg municipalities and Diest can promote tap water or low-waste gardening, for example, but also optimize the municipal waste bins, etc. In this way, we spend the saved tax money in a meaningful way.”
How did waste management evolve in Limburg over the years?
The region of Limburg has experienced major transformations in the way it manages waste throughout multiple decades. Waste management became a municipal responsibility in historical times because every local government took care of waste collection and disposal separately.
Local authorities in the Limburg Region joined together in 1990 to establish Limburg.net, which optimized waste management throughout all communities, including Diest. When this initiative launched, it established one waste tax, which functions as the fee structure for waste services, including household waste bag distribution.
The system underwent development, during which it developed sustainable features for enhanced recycling practices and diminished landfill waste generation. Continuous progress in waste management occurs through the implementation of Smart Sorting Points along with exchange systems for bags that go unused.
