Garden waste in Brussels to only be collected fortnightly from March

Garden waste in green bags will be collected every two weeks in Brussels from 23 March, the region’s waste management company Bruxelles-Propreté has announced.

The day on which the bags are collected will remain the same.

Bruxelles-Propreté said that the change was due to "operational factors" and that the new schedule was better suited to the habits of Brussels residents.

The agency also reminded residents that, since 2023, food waste must be separated from garden waste and put into orange bags.

In the years since that change, Bruxelles-Propreté noted that the total volume of bio-waste collected (garden waste and food waste) has risen steadily - 17,800 tonnes were collected in 2022 and 31,700 tonnes in 2024.

Bruxelles-Propreté initially decided to collect garden waste and food waste during the same rounds in order to reduce the ecological footprint of its collection vehicles. Since July 2024, this has been the case in about two-thirds of the Brussels region.

However, despite the environmental and logistical benefits, the current system is causing problems.

Initially, waste processing companies accepted the mixed waste stream without issue, but this has changed since the European obligation to separate food waste came into force in Flanders and Wallonia on 1 January 2024.

The country’s fermentation plants became increasingly saturated, and the mixed Brussels inflow is faced with increasingly stringent acceptance criteria. Bruxelles-Propreté has therefore decided to review the frequency of garden waste collection.

Brussels residents can still take their garden waste to the Recyparks. Bruxelles-Propreté will launch an information campaign about the changes in the coming weeks.