Anderlecht ( Brussels Morning Newspaper) – On 20 January 2025, a major cleaning campaign was launched on the Brussels Ring in Anderlecht because of constant dumping violations that had already existed for weeks. It entails the joint cooperation of a number of departments and intends to address serious fly-tipping of construction waste and other destruction.
Citizens of Brussels woke up today to a massive cleanup operation was launched in a section of the Brussels Ring in Anderlecht after weeks of dumping of waste by some antisocial elements. On Monday morning, several trucks and sweepers were deployed to collect the waste. This work could not have been possible without the collaboration between Net Brussel and Brussels Mobility, because both agencies were responsible for the management of the cleanup process to ensure that the wished-for transformation became a reality.
Inge Paemen from Brussels Mobility stated,
We place the signage and secure the zone, and Net Brussel removes the waste.
This multilateral approach is intended to help to eliminate the current situation as quickly as possible.
The first process is an evaluation of the types of waste that are to be dealt with. “On Monday morning, they will first look at what kind of waste is there,” Paemen explained. The rest of the waste will be collected by two grab cranes and taken to Net Brussel’s premises.
The authorities said that all the debris would be removed before the day ended in the area. But Paemen said there would be some inconveniences during the traffic during the cleanup.
There will be some traffic disruption during the day, but we will try to keep that to a minimum,
she noted.
The good news is that since the waste will not be along the highway itself, road closures will not be as frequent.
Besides cleaning up the debris, authorities have named 12 suspects who contributed to the act of dumping. Such people are subjected to hefty fines, and they are also made to bear the cost of cleaning up the environment.
The waste is not on the highway, so we will close the road as little as possible.
Paemen stated.
Illegal dumping in Belgium
Environmental degradation by dumping has been a major concern in this area for quite some time now. There has been an immense challenge in providing rapid response even with functional surveillance cameras, primarily because of staffing deficits. Paemen remarked,
We could respond more quickly, but then we would have to do direct checks, and we don’t have enough staff for that.
This is because, as with managing waste effectively, the other significant general problem encountered by the local authorities is how to ensure sufficient resources are available.
Polluting has been a problem around Brussels for a long time, and more specifically, in the Anderlecht district.
Previous interventions in order to address this problem have included information dissemination and education interventions designed to increase the community’s perception towards the disposal of waste. In 2014, Brussels MP Brigitte De Pauw launched a website called “Kuis Mijn Buurt” (Clean My Neighborhood) to allow citizens to report littering and illegal dumping incidents. She emphasized that changing mindsets is crucial:
The whole problem often starts because people have the wrong mentality.
Even after all these measures, illegality in dumping persists because there is inadequate compliance and monitoring. Many citizens perceive themselves as detached from the responsibility for the sanitation of yard territory in their area.
