Organic waste collection in Brussels has doubled

An estimated 25,000 tonnes of organic waste were collected in Brussels last year, not long after mandatory sorting of food waste was implemented in May 2023, new figures reveal.

The amount of food and other organic waste collected last year is more than double the 11,000 tonnes recorded in 2022.

“This also means a similar reduction in the number of tonnes of residual waste,” outgoing minister Alain Maron (Ecolo) said.

“Today there is an obligation to sort organic waste. There were protests against it in the past. But is anyone questioning it today?”

The organic waste is processed into biogas or compost, rather than going to incineration, which reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

Despite the positive figures, Maron said there was still "room for improvement". Some households struggle with a lack of space to store their organic waste, not all residents seem to be well-informed about the sorting obligation, and there is also general resistance to the change from some Brussels residents.

Brussels Environment is trying to remove these barriers by raising awareness and continuing to distribute free orange sorting bins – so far having delivered at least 330,000 of them.

Questions were also raised about the collection calendar. In 10 municipalities, collection of residual (white bag) waste occurs just once a week, while in others it is collected twice.

“The best incentive for a sorting obligation is to scale back the collection of white bags to once a week everywhere, and increase the orange bag collections accordingly,” said Maron, adding that working-class and particularly dense neighbourhoods will need more guidance and support from the next government.

Organic waste is currently being processed outside Brussels, but the aim is to have Brussels do this in the future.

According to Maron, tenders are currently being analysed for the construction of a new biomethanisation centre by the canal.

The sorting obligation for organic waste is mandated by the European Union.