On Friday, regional and municipal sanitation services cleared 5.5 metric tons of trash from around Brussels’ North Station, a notorious hotspot for litter, illegal dumping, and street debris. This is equivalent to the amount of trash an average Belgian family would accumulate over about ten to twelve years.

The amount of cleared trash immediately highlights the severity of the problems around the North Station. Through this coordinated clean-up effort, the Brussels government and the municipalities of Schaerbeek and Saint-Josse-ten-Node hope to strengthen cooperation in the neighborhood to improve cleanliness on a structural basis.

Structural problem

In total, more than 40 employees took part in the clean-up effort, half of whom were from Net Brussel, the official Regional Cleanliness Agency for the Brussels-Capital Region.

Dirty major stations are certainly not uniquely Belgian, but the combination at Brussels-North — litter, illegal dumping, drug-related nuisance, homelessness, safety problems for cleaning crews, and fragmented responsibilities — is unusually difficult. One month earlier, an equivalent operation at Brussels-Midi removed 4,990 kg, which strongly suggests a structural problem.

For perspective, the railway company NMBS/SNCB collected about 3,100 tons of waste in all Belgian stations during the whole of 2025, plus about 900 tons on trains. Waste management across all NMBS/SNCB activities cost €3.2 million. So, the 5.6 tons, or the equivalent of a full load from a large, heavy garbage truck, cannot sensibly be compared directly with MNBS/SNCB’s national figure, but it shows the distinction between normal railway waste and the broader neighborhood problem.

Deeper-rooted management issue

Because even though there may be a new Station Plan – one that, for example, places greater emphasis on cleanliness, the installation of 60 additional cameras, and more public service and security personnel – the problems surrounding Brussels North Station reveal a deeper-rooted management issue. This is not a one-time incident, but rather a convergence of administrative fragmentation, social pressures, and infrastructure decisions.

Another important point: Brussels still largely relies on placing trash bags on the street rather than using underground trash containers. Combined with a high population density and many apartments, this quickly leads to illegal dumping or litter.

Enforcement and monitoring of illegal dumping are often inadequate in such transit areas, where there are also homeless people, transit migrants, and people struggling with addiction,  because it is difficult to track down the polluters.

Fragmentation, but…

Besides, Brussels is far from an exception when it comes to station waste. Major metropolitan station areas around the world, such as Paris-Nord, Rome Termini, and Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof, face the same challenges: social issues, high foot traffic, and increased pressure on public cleanliness and safety.

What makes Brussels exceptional, however, is the significant administrative friction. For example, regional streets fall under the jurisdiction of the regional agency Net Brussels, while municipalities maintain municipal streets through their own departments. This fragmentation regularly leads to jurisdictional conflicts – “Who cleans up what?” – and a lack of uniform enforcement.

Although that last point is also relative. In terms of administrative structure, London bears a surprising resemblance to Brussels: Greater London is divided into 32 boroughs (local councils) plus the City of London.

Each borough, such as Westminster, Camden, or Kensington & Chelsea, has its own waste management policy and rules, and contracts out waste collection to private companies, such as Veolia or Biffa.

Despite this fragmentation, London often looks neater than Brussels. In the busy center of London, street cleaning is extremely intensive. On the busiest shopping streets, street-sweeping and cleaning trucks operate continuously, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Trash bags placed outside by commercial businesses are picked up within a few hours.

In London, stores, restaurants, and offices must also sign expensive private waste management contracts. Businesses are given specific time slots – sometimes as short as 1 to 2 hours a day – during which their waste may be left on the street. If they put it out too early, they face immediate hefty fines.

Most London boroughs also rely heavily on enforcement officers. In London, littering a cigarette butt or a can on the street results in an immediate fine of £150 to £400. The high likelihood of being caught and the severe financial penalty serve as a stronger deterrent than in Brussels.

Four daily bins emptying at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof

And if you look specifically at the area around the station, the Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof district faces a situation like that in Brussels, with an open drug scene, vulnerable people, litter, and worker safety issues.

Around 25 municipal cleaners work there from 04:30 to 19:00, collecting 7-10 m³ of street waste each day. Around 160 bins are emptied up to four times daily. Special teams collect drug paraphernalia, water trucks tackle urine and fecal smells, and cleaning crews in some streets work under police escort.

Higher penalties

But take note: Both at the municipal level and in the Brussels Region, penalties and fines have recently been significantly increased to deter illegal dumping.

Starting in August, the City of Brussels, among others, has significantly doubled the fines for environmental offenses. The fine for illegally dumping regular waste or bulky items has doubled from €500 to €1,000 per m³, as has the fine for construction waste and hazardous waste (from €1,000 to €2,000 per m³).

Anyone who uses the wrong type of trash bags or puts them out too early will now pay €400 per bag instead of €200. Public urination is now subject to a €400 fine, and the fine for graffiti has been set at €1,000 per m².

In Saint-Josse, those fines aren’t that high, but one factor to consider is that, with an average net taxable income well below the national average, it is the poorest municipality in Belgium. The municipality simply doesn’t have the tax revenue or the budget to deploy an army of cleaning services, as, for example, the wealthy Borough of Westminster in London or Frankfurt does.

Consequently, the municipality faces a nearly impossible task. Local taxes are insufficient to address the pollution around North Station – the second-busiest station in the country, part of which lies within Schaerbeek’s territory, which is largely caused by people who do not live in Saint-Josse or pay taxes there (commuters, visitors, transit migrants, and “litter tourists”).

The will is there

In any case, Brussels State Secretary for Public Cleanliness Audrey Henry (MR) called Friday’s clean-up campaign a great success. According to Henry, the clean-up campaign also demonstrates the Brussels Regional Government’s commitment to tackling the neighborhood and restoring it to lasting cleanliness.

He hopes that this joint initiative will “strengthen cooperation with stakeholders on the ground, so that interventions can be better aligned, carried out in a coordinated manner, and so that clean-up efforts can be institutionalized in the long term.”

“Nearly 60,000 people pass through North Station every day. That’s the equivalent of a full King Baudouin Stadium on a concert night. But we’re talking about workers, commuters, families, and travelers here: all of Brussels passes through here,” said the former mayor of Schaerbeek. “Everyone involved is committed to ensuring that this station is clean – not just today, but from today onward.”