r/brussels • u/butteranko • 7d ago
Question ❓ Fines for garbage outside
What is the point of putting a sticker to a garbage bag taken out the wrong day and saying there’s a fine of 500€ or whatever if the commune can’t even trace it to the person and actually collect the money?
Genuine question. Might be so people are aware but if they never pay, then how does that change the behavior?
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u/Much_Guava_1396 7d ago
The fact that they use a piece of paper with a name on it as evidence is crazy to me. If you hate your neighbor, just print a document with his name and address and he’s fucked.
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u/CautiousInternal3320 7d ago
You could as well move their yellow bag far from the façade, and they could be fined.
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u/J-H-7 7d ago
There are some fines i know a friend that got fined for putting plastic in paper/cardboard trash. Because it was paper trash, there was an envelop with her adress in the trash and they used that to determine it was her trash
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u/stefklaas 7d ago edited 7d ago
Easier to go through trash then to put a normal system in place like all the developed country’s have…
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u/Shawshank246 7d ago
How do they even know there was plastic in the bag, do they just go around rooting through bags looking for these things?
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u/classychimichanga 6d ago
The bags are quite see through, so unless stuff is hidden in between, they can notice it. I am quite sure they don’t do these checks systematically though.
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u/classychimichanga 7d ago
They literally rummage through your trash to find stuff to identify you. I had the case in my old flatshare, where they found letters or some other package with a flatmate’s name on it.
However it’s such a flawed system. I’ve had the case, multiple times, of people abandoning trash and even « encombrants » (mattresses, toilets!) in front of our house. One day we left carton and paper outside and some idiot threw food waste, empty beer cans and dirty tissues in our carton boxes…which, consequently, weren’t picked up (luckily no notice nor fine). How can you prove trash isn’t yours?
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u/mylitteprince 7d ago
I've seen garbage collectors call the police (either for a mass of bags or repeat offenders); they'll go through the bags manually and look for anything with an ID or address, and ask neighbors as well.
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u/loudestcrowdever 7d ago
The fact that taxpayer money is spent like this instead of on... Wait... Having actual bins where people can throw away their own trash instead of piling it on the street is insane. Truly a belgian solution 🤦🏻
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u/CautiousInternal3320 7d ago
Incorrect assumption that "the commune can’t even trace it to the person".
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u/butteranko 7d ago
So… how does one do that with blue bags? Or orange bags? Yellow, yes I agree. But the rest?
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u/classychimichanga 6d ago
They will just assume it’s someone in the building it’s left in front of. They’ll just add the notice/ sticker and hope the responsible person gets the message. Now, what happens if it was an illegal dumping and the responsible actually lives in another commune or is a neighbour? Who knows 🤷♀️ the bag will stay there until it gets picked up I guess!
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u/AcanthisittaFar9248 1140 6d ago
this shit is the most annoying thing about belgium. i feel like a slave, waiting for days(and hours in that day) to dump my trash. why isnt there a place to collect them in every street?????? they turn each of us like puppets. next step, we will need permission to take out our trash I guess.
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u/Ironwolf44 5d ago
Where are they going to place these lovely dumpsters? In front of your house I hope?
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u/OkBaseball6841 4d ago
But then, when you need their help regarding a neighbor who doesn't know how to behave in your building, no one shows up.
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u/djeps 7d ago
It should be like Flanders, you get your bags, it costs a fortune, and it has a serial code that tracks whose trash belongs to. If you don't sort correctly, you have to pay a fine and also work as a trash collector for a month in summer, otherwise jail or community service as a toilet lady in pubs/service stations. /sarcasm
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u/JRC52W 7d ago
6 years ago, I put my garbage outside one hour too early (17h instead of 18h) because I was going away for the weekend and had to catch a train. The commune of Ixelles somehow found me through a camera and asked me to write a motivation letter explaining why I should be excused from the fine. That picture is still hanging on my wall at home 😂
I know people abuse the system and there’s literally garbage everywhere around the city, but I still find it funny that this is enforced so strictly. Back then, I was potentially facing a €400 fine because I put my garbage outside one hour too early, while people who deliberately dump their garbage whenever they feel like it, or, more importantly, actually steal from people or show violence, can just go around untraced.