Talking Dutch: Waste not, want not
The other day, I found an empty beer can on our doorstep. I put it out with the rubbish like a good citizen. But am I going to get a fine?
A woman in Flanders is facing a fine for throwing some private mail away in a public bin. Do you agree she should be fined?
Derek Blyth on the perils of putting litter in the bin
The little town of Herentals in Antwerp province has got me worried because it is quite severe in its treatment of people who don’t put rubbish in the right place. Just a few weeks ago, according to a report in Het Laatste Nieuws, a woman was fined €250 because she dropped four bank statements she had received in the post in a public rubbish bin after leaving her home.
“Het is verboden huishoudelijk afval te deponeren in straatvuilbakjes,” said the stern summons that landed in her letterbox – it is forbidden to deposit household waste in rubbish bins on the street. Pardon? Yes, that is right. “Er mag uitsluitend afval in van ter plekke geconsumeerde producten” – you may only deposit waste from products consumed in the vicinity.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I sometimes leave the house munching an apple. So, when I am finished, does the apple core count as household waste or may I safely deposit it in a rubbish bin?
The newspaper contacted the public servant who had sent the summons to make sure the story was true. It was. The woman was suspected of illegal dumping because the rubbish bin was situated 165 metres from her house. And, to make matters worse, “blijkt dat het gezin uit twee personen bestaat en onregelmatig en weinig afval meegeeft met de gemeentelijke afvalophaling” – it appeared that the family consisted of two people and that they put out small and irregular amounts of waste for the municipal rubbish collection.
“In wat voor een totalitair regime leven wij?” the woman asked – what sort of totalitarian regime are we living in?
She has a point. The level of snooping and digging around in Herentals is quite alarming. Why worry about Google reading your emails when a man from the council is busy sifting through your trash?
“Omdat mijn dochter en ik onze ecologische voetafdruk zo klein proberen te houden, zijn we sluikstorters?” – my daughter and I try to minimise our ecological footprint, so are we assumed to have dumped our rubbish illegally? “Dit is pure Kafka” – this is pure Kafka.
It makes me think that I should be putting out more rubbish every week, just to be safe. I might begin with that Polish beer can, but then again, when I think about it, I didn’t drink the beer, and I don’t know who did, so where exactly do I deposit the can?
Photo: Ingimage
