Contest seeks ideas for how to make Brussels cleaner

Brussels’ public hygiene authority, Bruxelles Propreté, is calling on residents to provide ideas for how to improve cleanliness in the Belgian capital through a city-wide contest.

The contest aims “to encourage residents and associations to design an original nudge system to encourage people to behave better in terms of public cleanliness,” the organisation said.

Ideas could centre around producing as little waste as possible, reducing litter in public spaces, sorting waste properly, or following protocol for putting out rubbish bags.

“Ideas to combat cigarette butts, chewing gum, dog faeces, fly-tipping and so on are also welcome,” the agency added.

Bruxelles Propreté will offer a €1,000 grant for each winning project.

A "nudge" competition such as this is a behavioural science technique that encourages individuals or a group to change their behaviour or make certain choices of their own accord, without using coercion.

For example, placing the image of a fly in the urinals in the men's toilets at Amsterdam-Schiphol airport served as a subconscious target for users, leading to less splashing around the urinal and reducing cleaning costs by 80%.

Selected projects from the Brussels competition will receive guidance and resources to develop the idea into a tangible prototype, which will be presented at the Brussels Clean Festival on 21 September.

The competition is part of clean.brussels, the regional strategy for urban cleanliness supported, and runs until 15 July.