2023-08-11 10:30:00
The operation is quite rare. A team from the regional agency Bruxelles Propreté passes daily on the section between the Louise and Porte de Namur metro stations but, this Thursday morning, it has put the big resources. Collectors, dirt vacuum cleaners, high-pressure cleaners and sweepers: around twenty agents were mobilized to clean up the avenue de la Toison d’Or, in the territory of Ixelles.
A stretch that is not always easy to maintain. “There are businesses that don’t always respect the exit times for their garbage bags or that leave their containers on the street. It invites people to use it and therefore to dirty. Filth brings filth as always,” laments Youcef Soussi, cleaner.
His colleague Habib continues: “it’s not complicated, an hour following our visit, it becomes dirty once more as before. We also have a problem with homeless people on this axis. We don’t know how to do anything regarding it when we have to clean up.”
“Political Courage”
The solution for the two men? Educate the population but also move more quickly to sanctions. “When we report a problem, it can take two weeks to resolve, continues Youcef. Nobody wants to be the bad guy. Especially not local elected officials with their inhabitants. It will take political courage if we want a clean city.”
There is also the question of resources. “Normally, there are three of us to do Avenue Louise between Stéphanie and Louise then this avenue between Louise and Porte de Namur. We have half a day to do it… Obviously we have to make choices.”
Samuel, in charge of high-pressure cleaning, also notices this. “We only have four trucks equipped, two of which are for graffiti, 300,000 euros each. Here (Avenue de la Toison d’Or, Editor’s note) we go regarding once a month but, for example, at the Gare du Midi it’s almost daily. And there are also unscheduled interventions. A few days ago, at the bottom of the Lambermont, someone covered all the street furniture with motor oil.
Equipped with a boiler to heat water and clean grease or hydrocarbons and two 1000-litre tanks filled with a mixture of water, antibacterial and lemon flavoring, the truck is then mobilized. For this Thursday’s operation, the 2,000 liters of water will go through it.
Necessary but energy-intensive cooperation
On the sanctions side, the registrars of the municipality of Ixelles were there this morning. However, this type of joint operation is not legion and violations are sometimes complicated to observe and punish. Especially on regional axes where skills are often divided. At Bruxelles Propreté, we cannot sanction businesses, a prerogative of Bruxelles Environnement. The ABP observes the violation of a trade but it is BE that verbalizes… Moreover, the removal of waste being liberalized, Bruxelles Propreté is not the only operator with the tradesmen. “By cleaning, it’s hard to tell a trade that its contract is not good or not respected when it comes to another operator.”
At the rhythm of the karcher and the sweeper which diffuse their lemony perfume, other problems appear. “The blocks of flowers, for example, along the avenue are not suitable for the passage of the sweeper. It is also a haunt of rats,” explains Habib. Moreover, a dozen small animal carcasses found leached by the cleaning littered the sidewalk. And what the agents denounced did not take long to happen. It will not take more than a minute following the passage of the sweeper on the cycle path for a can to be swung by a scooter rider.
A thoughtful public space for cleaning
At Bruxelles Propreté, we are convinced that the solution would involve more coordination between the police, the municipalities, and the agency. “This type of operation is not systematic and requires a lot of resources and anticipation.” In the Clean Brussels programme, liaison officers with the cleanliness players in a sector must be put in place. The agency is also keen to alert the public authorities to land use planning. “The avenue will soon be renovated, we have to think regarding the specificity of our professions. For now, our collectors have to cross the bike path and step over concrete blocks, trash cans in hand. A few months ago, we had an officer hit by a cyclist here. He is still on hold.”
Samuel develops another concrete point. “For graffiti, for example, concrete is a very bad idea, it’s porous, it absorbs paint better and it’s hell to catch up with.”
Brigade Herscham: “We don’t take people on the street as traitors”
In the Porte de Namur sector, there were also two agents from the Herscham brigade on Thursday morning: Chris and Patrick. They have been preparing the Bruxelles Propreté operation for a week. “In this sector, we have 13 or 14 people on the street at the moment. The goal of our unity is not to take them as traitors. We build a bond of trust, we explain to them that a cleaning operation is going to take place so that they can prepare their belongings. In 99.99% of cases, it goes well. When we are seen removing a tent, it always seems violent, but it’s probably been a week since we warned, we left words… so it’s abandoned. What is left behind is shipped. We don’t have time to discuss when the cleaners intervene.” Every week, the brigade has a brief with the cleanliness officers of the city of Brussels. “We have 80 identified hot spots, every week they clean 10 or 15 of them. So we look at their schedule and we will warn people who are on the street in this sector.”
“Unique in Belgium”, this brigade made up of five officers is officially attached to the Brussels Ixelles police zone. But its missions go beyond the zone. During the weekly hotlines, the agents receive people from all over the region, and even from other provinces. “Our goal is to give papers back to people on the street. In Belgium, without papers, we don’t know how to do anything. It’s the gateway to accommodation, work… When people are foreigners, we have agreements with embassies so that passports are free for people on the street. If you are European for example, this simple passport gives you the right to work here. That represents a lot of people on the street. Here, on the avenue, almost 80% of the homeless are Poles. Once they have their passport, we keep it at the police station to prevent it from being stolen in the street and we give them a copy for their procedure.
The two agents note an increase in people ending up on the streets, more than 7,000 at the last census, “surely 8,000 today.” For Chris, it’s not going to get any better with the energy bills.
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