Ghent(The Brussels Morning Newspaper): During the Ghent Festivities, a cleanup crew works hard to collect trash, achieving 4% less waste per visitor. The festival is lively, but some partygoers can be challenging.
On 25July there was around 6:30 in the morning at Vlasmarkt in Ghent and there were around a hundred people still enjoying their Tuesday night on Wednesday. Glenn Deham who coordinates the team of twenty garbage collectors mentions they are fully into the Ghent Festivities since last Saturday. Each morning about sixty cleaners and various vehicles work to clean the streets for the next wave of party people. Deham highlights that the festival is significant for their team too as they all work together for ten days towards the same goal.
How have the Ghent Festivities changed over the years?
Karel Vandemaelen a garbage collector shares that the Ghent Festivities are where people find love, short or long-term. He recalls a couple in action near his car while others were having breakfast. Vandemaelen has been cleaning up for 25 years and never attended the festival before becoming a garbage collector.
Over the years the festival has changed a lot. It used to be all about the music and the crowd but now there are more drugs involved first ketamine, now laughing gas. The vibe used to be that the music on Vlasmarkt never stopped and people would sleep on food stall roofs after the festival. The shift to reusable cups has made things much simpler for cleanup. Vandemaelen notes that dealing with piles of disposable cups is a thing of the past. This year’s waste figures show a 4% drop in the amount of waste per visitor compared to last year.
What are the experiences of trash collectors during the Ghent Festivities?
As the truck clears up trash partygoers walk by. Some are surprised to see the cleaners while others just notice. Some people cheerfully greet the workers and they ask if they can hop into the truck. Vandemaelen sometimes says yes if they’re polite. However, it gets tricky when people under the influence refuse to take no for an answer. Vandemaelen notes it’s frustrating when people start throwing bottles at the sweeper. Despite this he and Ennio Vande Sande, who has been cleaning at the Ghent Festivities for about fifteen years find most encounters amusing. Vande Sande recalls a serious incident last year when he saw a woman pushed onto the cobblestones but he was able to get help from the nearby police station.
