Bags of rubbish piling up in the streets. This is the landscape that Frédéric has been facing for several weeks. Via the orange Alert us button, this resident of Havré (Mons) makes a sad observation, with supporting photos. “In Havré, a charming village with its listed castle, for 3 weeks there has been incomprehension (…) Here is a pile of PMC bags not collected and hidden behind the town hall near the police station. This Monday, second collection not made . People are fed up, but what to do? he wonders.
For Frédéric, selective sorting is a good thing, but for now, “it’s a complete shambles in the streets of Mons”, he believes. He adds : “Pickups are not done on the scheduled day, we are not warned. Some leave their bags, others bring their bags in. And for 3 weeks, there has been no collection of blue bags. We can see trash piling up everywhere.
Frédéric denounces poor communication and organization. “The new calendar is quite clear and quite simple, but the days do not correspond. The PMC bags were to be picked up again this Monday. However, they did not come through and there is no info on their site”deplores the inhabitant of Havré.
The citizen has seen his habits changed.
The Hygea intermunicipal company is gradually modifying its waste collection system. This is part of a reform of Wallonia: in 2025, organic waste will have to be separated in all Walloon municipalities. In Mons, this new system has been in place since November 7th. This leads to the disappearance of the white bag in favor of the green bag (organic waste) and Moka bags (residual waste). “Voluntary drop-off points” commonly called PAV, also allow residents to drop off their waste, 7 days a week. Paper and cardboard are received in a container.
So how do you explain that garbage bags litter the streets of Mons? We contacted the Hygea environmental management intermunicipal company. Its managing director, Jacques De Moortel answers us. The new collection system is currently deployed in greater Mons. “What represents an entity of 100,000 inhabitants, therefore a certain complexity”, he explains to us.
Concretely, since November 7, waste collection in the Mons region has experienced two “major transitions”. On the one hand, the integration of a new waste bag and therefore a modification of the collection schedule. “The citizen saw his habits changed which sometimes led to misunderstanding. Some people then took out their waste when it was not collection day”, believes Jacques De Moortel. Garbage bags ended up in the streets without being able to be collected.
A new company manages the collection of PMC
And on the other hand, Hygea now entrusts the collection of PMC bags to a third party company which must now understand a territory that it does not know. “This third party has only been discovering the territory for 25 days”, explains the general manager of Hygea.
This Monday, November 28, this company subcontracted by Hygea experienced a “collection problem”. “The collection was not carried out as expected”, observes Jacques De Moortel. This waste collection therefore continued on 29 and 30 November. This explains the many blue bags present in the Mons region and which had to wait several days before being collected. For his part, the general manager of Hygea insists on the fact that citizens must be able to benefit from a good quality service. For this, they are asked to respect collection schedule established in order to avoid any inconvenience.