It has now been 17 years since the first smart bins appeared in Wallonia. Today, almost one municipality in two uses them to help sort waste. These bins measure exactly by weight. The truck therefore weighs it before harvesting its contents and the household pays according to its production. This therefore encourages residents to better sort their waste via PMC bags or organic waste via bags or other chip bins.
A sharp reduction in waste
In Walloon Brabant, 8 of the 19 municipalities have set up these smart bins. The first was Chastre in 2016. “We went from 135 kg of waste per person to 74 kg per person“, explains Jean-Marie Thiry, alderman for the environment. His counterpart from Grez-Doiceau shares this assessment.From 140 kg to just under 90 kg“, says Laurent Francis.
This system allows the municipality to identify the households that produce the most waste. “And to be close to the polluter-pays system“, insists the alderman. “We sent a message to these households to make them understand that they were leaving high in quantities. But some have still had it for 500 or 600 euros more per year than the basic tax.“
More complicated in large municipalities
In the larger municipality of Ottignies Louvain-la-Neuve, the application is a little more complicated but that is not the only problem. “We look at the other municipalities where direct taxation has increased”, says Philippe Delvaux, alderman for the environment. “We find that in the current economic situation it is a bit complicated to increase the waste tax.“Laurent Francis de Grez-Doiceau does not share this opinion but”obviously for households that generally produce less, the fixed price is probably a little higher than what they need.“
Another negative consequence in other municipalities, there are more clandestine deposits to avoid paying.
In numbers:
Of the 262 Walloon municipalities, 127 used smart bins last year to collect waste (48%) or almost one in two.
115 municipalities out of the 223 with less than 20,000 inhabitants.
11 municipalities out of 30 with between 20,000 and 50,000 inhabitants.
And only 1 out of 9 with more than 50,000 inhabitants: Seraing
Breakdown by province:
53 in the province of Liège
30 in the province of Namur
9 in the Charleroi region (TIBI)
8 in Walloon Brabant
27 in the province of Luxembourg