A strike staff of the Brussels rubbish collection service has again prompted calls for residents to bring in their uncollected bin bags where possible. In particular, orange bags for organic waste could pose a nuisance.
Employees of Agence Bruxelles Propreté (ABP) are again on strike on Friday 10 May, as previously announced. The union action, which started last week, meant rubbish collections have been disrupted in several communes. Meanwhile, all regional Recyparks are open, except Recypark South.
However many of the city's residents are apparently unware of the strike, with lots of households putting their rubbish on the street as usual. ABP took stock of the impact on Friday afternoon, which varies greatly from municipality to municipality.
In Etterbeek, Molenbeek-Saint-Jean, Saint-Josse-ten-Noode, Schaerbeek and Woluwe-Saint-Pierre, the majority of white bags for non-recyclable residual waste were collected (between 70 and 85%). In Woluwe-Saint-Lambert, half of the white rubbish bags placed outside were collected.
In Etterbeek, Molenbeek and Schaerbeek, (almost) all orange bags for organic waste that were put out were left on the pavements. Only in Koekelberg and Saint-Josse-ten-Noode were most of these (about 75%) collected.
Smelly bins and litter
Because of their contents, orange bags could become a malodorous issue in the coming days, especially with the warmer temperatures. They are also often targeted by animals and can be easily torn, littering pavements.
Bruxelles-Propreté calls on residents and traders in areas where the bags are not picked up by Saturday evening to take them in again. Catch-up rounds may be organised depending on available human resources, but, likely, they will not cover all municipalities. "Affected residents can put them out again during the next collection date." An update on the situation will follow on Monday.
With their action, the strikers want to denounce the accumulation of holidays. Many staff members have been denied taking their time off because of the high rate of absenteeism faced by the agency.
