What a load of rubbish: Riding shotgun with the orange waste warriors

Brussels' bin men are on a mission – dodging roadblocks, wrangling rogue recyclers, and gracefully navigating the city's tight corners. The Brussels Times hitches a ride in an orange bag collection truck, and finds out how food waste is being turned into fuel.

The prospect of getting my hands dirty and doing some honest graft appealed to my better nature, so when I was invited to ride in the cabin of a garbage truck, I was sold on the idea of doing the rounds with the bin men.

My mission was to board one of the Brussels region’s 400 waste collection vehicles. I was on a truck collecting orange bin bags containing food waste in the streets of Ixelles.

Orange bag collection became mandatory in May 2023 and the region uses the biodegrading food waste to create renewable energy. The science bit will come later.

But first, I need to get into the high truck cabin. I have to lift my right foot up as far as it can stretch to reach the first step – I am not a regular at the yoga class – followed by my left, and haul myself up to the cabin. Thank goodness I wore sensible shoes with grips.

Once on board, I meet with Alexander and Cesse, my co-workers for the afternoon. Alexander is at the wheel and Cesse is the sole collector today of the orange bins.

Alexander at the wheel.

I use the words co-workers in jest. They carry out all the work and I simply hang on tightly when Alexander turns the tricky corners in the tight streets of Ixelles. I do shake my head here and there when someone is discourteous on the road, and utter the odd tut at a pedestrian who looks like they are about to step into our path. Does moral support like this qualify as hard graft?

Obstacle course

It is like a giant obstacle course before us at times when copious road closures seemed to sabotage our collection route. I see the street map on Alexander’s clipboard. He uses his instincts to find his way towards the designated pick-up street. And no, satnav does not help – road closures are invariably not on the radar.

Despite this, Alexander remains calm and cheerful. Unlike some other road users, he does not yell expletives and there is no gesticulating. He stays sanguine, despite his collection shift clashing inconveniently with the end of the school day.

Of course, he pauses patiently for schoolchildren to safely cross the road. During our journey, he waits for quite a few parked (illegally and or seemingly abandoned) cars to move out of his way without a hint of exasperation. On one occasion during our round, Alexander dutifully stops for a group of languid kids, apparently oblivious to our truck. Very slowly and methodically, they place their colourful rucksacks, one-by-one, in the boot of a badly parked car before taking their seats.

The mood lifts when we see a boy of about 12 waiting on the sidewalk before daring to cross. He looks up at us and waves enthusiastically, giving a thumbs up. Alexander beckons to him to cross the street. The boy places his palms together in a gesture of gratitude, crosses, repeats it on the other side and then waves again, smiling broadly. It makes our day and Alexander is happy. “We don’t see many people like him,” he says. Two streets along, the boy pops up again, this time waving with both hands.

Mixed areas

A usual shift begins at 5.30am and ends around 10.30am. Alexander is used to the early starts but today is a bit of a treat as it begins in the middle of the afternoon. Shifts can also be staggered to avoid heavy congestion in the city.

Brussels is a dense city with different social patterns in the centre, the west or the south. But the waste is collected in very different neighbourhoods every day of the year, come rain, snow or shine.

Fluctuations in the quantities produced are another challenge, and binmen have to ensure that their trucks run at a sufficient fill rate without clogging up the roads. They also have to take into account where people live: collecting bags in the south-east of Brussels, where there is more space, is not the same as collecting them in the centre or the north of the city. So they have trucks of different sizes – and the one I’m on is actually one of the smaller vehicles.

Alexander has been doing it for nine years and prefers driving to collecting but has worked in both areas. Before you moan and groan when you are stuck behind a garbage truck, spare a thought for people like him. His driving skills are outstanding around tight urban road bends. “Yes, it can be difficult to drive these streets, but I do enjoy it,” he says. “You do get even better at driving these big machines.”

Rules and fines

Irresponsible, or simply forgetful households can make Alexander and Cesse’s job difficult if a potentially harmful inanimate imposter is placed in the bag. They once discovered a breadknife in one of the orange bags. Luckily nobody was hurt and when questioned the culprit said they had simply forgotten to take it out of the bread. “It was found still stuck with the bread,” Alexander says. Collecting teams can carry out spot checks and fines of between between €100 and €600 can be imposed should one break the rules and sneak in the wrong item.

Alexander’s seat suspension looks fun but is designed to move with him should he meet a particularly troublesome pothole on the road. At times, I say, he seems like he is riding a Bucking Bronco machine. He laughs and agrees.

At one point, he steps down from the cab briefly to put the rear-view camera back in place after it was slightly out of sync, probably due to the truck running into a pothole. The camera sits on the dashboard as it has to pick up the image of Cesse who jumps deftly on and off a platform at the back of the trick. Any accidents or close shaves? Of course not, they are both good professionals, they say.

My journey has come to an end. I step down, but Alexander has to move to another part of the neighbourhood. I thank them for their time. An irony dawns on me: despite taking part in a waste collection exercise, I do not have dirty hands. I did try – but health and safety regulations prevent me from helping Cesse!

Now for the science bit.

Bruxelles-Propreté, the agency responsible for the collection and managing the region’s refuse, says the new rules have led to a steady rise in the amount of food waste collected in the orange bags: in the first 10 months of 2024, it rose by more than 30% compared with the same period the previous year.

Once bound for the city’s incinerator where it was blended with other rubbish in white bin bags, food waste can now be left to happily biodegrade organically. This cuts greenhouse gases released into the air from burning waste. Decomposed organic matter turns into compost that can be transformed into biogas, a renewable form of energy.

The result, officials say, is that 4,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide is no longer polluting the skies in the city – equivalent to 4,000 round-trip flights between Brussels and New York.

Brussels region aimed to collect 25,000 tonnes of food waste by the end of 2024 and that objective was successfully met. But officials say that figure could still significantly improve with the public’s help – and Bruxelles-Propreté has recently launched a major awareness campaign on the issue.

The campaign was launched in five languages: French, Dutch, English, Spanish and Arabic – with additional languages on the Bruxelles-Propreté website - in a bid to drive home the importance of recycling food waste. The core message is: Sorting My Waste is Smart.

Spread the word

Bruxelles-Propreté – the second largest public employer in the region with more than 3,000 workers – is keen to spread the word that orange bins are available to all households, free of charge and can be delivered upon request or collected from their local Recypark.

In addition to their awareness campaign, a dedicated organic plant for food and environmental waste is set to open along the canal near the Buda Bridge in 2027. Food and green waste are currently taken to a recycling centre in Ypres/Ieper, some 127km from Brussels, but the new plant will be in the industrial zone near Vilvoorde and the ring road – and close to the existing North Wastewater Treatment Plant.

The plant will use biomethanation, a process whereby organic material is converted into biogas, a more environmentally friendly energy source. The facility will treat between 35,000 and 40,000 tonnes of waste per year and between 4,000 and 5,000 of green waste, producing around 5,000 tonnes of compost. It will also generate heat and electricity through the biofuel corresponding to the output of two onshore wind turbines – meeting the energy requirements of about 4,000 people.

Many people are still unsure what and what not to place in their orange bags, and some still throw out paper, which cannot decompose, with the food and bones. Getting it right is vital if decomposition at a biomethanation plant is to work.

Bruxelles-Propreté hopes the public can help bring about a move to a more sustainable environment by taking a more efficient approach when throwing out household waste. The agency says its public service is based on “a partnership with residents”, and if the bags are not properly sorted, closed and presented for collection, the whole treatment process is undermined.

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The ‘buy-in’ dimension is crucial. Sorting and recycling household waste are not the only factors affecting our quality of life, officials say, but by sorting correctly, we can play a practical part in improving the air quality, cleanliness and friendliness of our region.

Hence the awareness campaigns to continually remind residents of the environmental necessity of sorting their waste and materials and putting their bags alongside the front of their homes.

And the messaging is not just marketing. Waste collection teams, Alexander and Cesse included, are joining in, educating the public during the campaign by even knocking on doors to spread the message about the importance of correct recycling. So, if you do see them, take a moment to chat.