Plan for new park in Ixelles scrapped to make room for waste collection trucks

While local residents in Ixelles have been complaining for years about noise and odour at a municipal site on Rue Wayenberg, which serves as a "manoeuvring yard" for the council’s refuse lorries, plans to convert the site into a green space are being scrapped in favour of an expansion of waste collection activities instead.

The Brussels municipality presented a plan back in 2011 to demolish the old building at the site and redevelop the space into a green courtyard garden.

All local residents agreed to the plan, but it never came to fruition. The space was instead used as a yard for heavy vehicles belonging to the Ixelles waste collection services.

Local resident Esther Ahern told Bruzz that the resulting noise and odour nuisance is daily, beginning early in the morning and lasting until as late as 22.00.

“Rubbish lorries are regularly parked there for a whole weekend with a full load,” Ahern said.

“Especially in the summer heat, this creates a very unpleasant smell and attracts lots of flies into our kitchen. This doesn’t belong in a residential area, but on an industrial estate.”

Following complaints from local residents, a noise study revealed that noise limits were being exceeded. Brussels Environment intervened and banned refuse lorries from parking on the site during the afternoon, but Ahern said that the measure was short-lived.

“Refuse lorries are constantly manoeuvring on the site and they simply started parking there again after a while,” said Ahern.

“Following another complaint, they’ve gone away for the time being, but we fear it won’t be long before they return.”

The council recently applied for a planning and environmental permit to expand the site, abandoning the original intention of converting it into a green space. The project would see the number of covered parking spaces increase from 72 to 113.

The permit applications also provide for the expansion of the workshops and the storage of more hazardous substances.

Mayor Romain De Reusme (PS) said that all necessary safety measures had been put in place and denied the claim that this constitutes an expansion, saying “this is a regularisation of the existing site”.

De Reusme said the green courtyard has been shelved because “we need to cut back on our own expenditure” and “the original building plans no longer meet the neighbourhood’s current needs”.

The mayor added that solutions will be sought to minimise noise pollution, adding: “We’ll decide exactly what we’ll do in the next phases, but, for example, we’ll gradually replace our fleet with electric vehicles.”

The public consultation runs until 31 July 2026.

In the meantime, local residents are mobilising an opposition and are considering launching a petition.