How waste and bulky waste disposal works in Brussels: a guide for expats

Who handles waste in Brussels

Household waste in the Brussels-Capital Region is handled by Bruxelles-Propreté, a regional public agency, not by your landlord or your building manager. Its full name is Agence Régionale pour la Propreté, its Dutch name is Net Brussel, and its website and letters often use the short form ARP-GAN.

Bruxelles-Propreté collects the colour-coded bags and runs the 6 Recyparks, and its sworn officers enforce the rules. Brussels Environment (Bruxelles Environnement / Leefmilieu Brussel) publishes the sorting obligations and handles awkward waste such as asbestos or gas bottles on 02/775 75 75.

Bulky Waste Brussels is not part of either. We are an independent company that clears homes, cellars and offices, carrying everything out at a price fixed before the job.

Brussels bin bag colours explained

Brussels sorts household waste into five colours of official bag, each meant for one type of waste. The bags are sold in supermarkets, DIY stores and local shops, and only official Bruxelles-Propreté bags may be used. Each bag may weigh at most 15 kg.

On collection day, put your bags along the façade of your building, not at the foot of a tree or next to a public bin.

What PMD means in Belgium

PMD is the Dutch abbreviation for the packaging that goes in the blue bag: Plastic, Metaal and Drankkartons, meaning plastic packaging, metal packaging and drink cartons. In French the same stream is called PMC (plastiques, métaux et cartons à boissons), which is the term Bruxelles-Propreté uses on its French pages.

So PMD and PMC mean the same blue bag. For the exact list of what it accepts, check the Bruxelles-Propreté page on bag collection (opens in a new tab). Hard plastics such as a cracked flower pot, and non-food packaging polystyrene from a new television, go to a Recypark instead.

Brussels bin collection days and times

Collection days are not the same everywhere in the region, so check the days for your own street instead of copying a friend's schedule from another commune. Bruxelles-Propreté answers questions on 0800 981 81, Monday to Friday 8:30–16:00.

The hour matters as much as the day. For evening collections, bags go out between 18:00 and 20:00. Bags put out at the wrong time bring indicative fines of €50–75, and the Bruxelles-Propreté FAQ puts breaches of the bag calendar between €50 and €200, excluding costs.

Bulky waste in Brussels: what doesn't fit in a bag

Bulky waste is household waste that cannot go in a bag because of its nature, weight or size, and that is not attached to the dwelling. By Bruxelles-Propreté's own definition, that covers a three-seater sofa, a box spring, a wardrobe taken apart, a fridge, a bike or a pram. A washbasin or bags of tiles from a bathroom job are construction and renovation waste, a separate category.

The white bag explicitly refuses bulky waste, mattresses and electrical equipment, so never force a broken chair into it. Bulky items may not go on the pavement either: outside an official collection, that counts as illegal dumping. When a whole flat, cellar or house has to be emptied, the practical answer is to have it cleared from inside, which is what we do:

• Send photos of the items and tell us your commune.
• Get a fixed price before anything is collected: a small clearance such as a cellar or a room's worth is usually €250–600, a studio or small flat €250–900. See bulky waste collection prices in Brussels.
• A two-person crew comes with a box truck at an agreed time, carries everything out and loads it. Read how our bulky waste collection works.
• Sorting: usable furniture goes to reuse, appliances to electrical recycling, and wood, metal and cardboard to the right streams. Emptying an entire flat or house is covered on our house clearance in Brussels page.

Chemical, electrical and garden waste in Brussels

Three kinds of household waste have their own channels in Brussels, because they do not belong in the white bag.

Electrical appliances, from a kettle to a chest freezer, go to a Recypark, a Recupel collection point, or back to the shop when you buy a new appliance of the same type. Large appliances are part of every flat we clear; see clearing a flat when you move out of Brussels. Household chemicals such as leftover paint or frying oil go to a Recypark, within set limits per visit; we do not take them. Garden waste goes in the green bag, and branches tied in bundles can go to a Recypark; garden waste is not something we take. Medicines go back to a pharmacy, and batteries go to a Bebat point or a Recypark.

Brussels waste vocabulary: French, Dutch and English

Official websites, letters and forms about waste in Brussels are mostly in French and Dutch. This table gives the terms you will meet most often, with their English meaning.

Rules for garbage disposal in Belgium vs Brussels

Belgium has no single national rulebook for household waste: the Brussels-Capital Region, Flanders and Wallonia each organise their own collection, with their own bags, container parks and fines. Everything on this site covers the Brussels-Capital Region only. In Leuven, Ghent or Namur the bags and container park rules can differ.

Bringing waste into Brussels from the other two regions is itself a fined offence ('waste tourism'), and the Recyparks only admit people domiciled in the Brussels-Capital Region, with Drogenbos residents as a limited exception at Humanité and Sud. Within Brussels, the correct way to dispose of garbage comes down to four habits:

• Sort household waste into the five official bags and put them out along the façade on your street's days.
• Take glass to a bottle bank and clean textiles to a clothing bank.
• Keep mattresses, appliances, tyres, batteries and oil out of the white bag.
• Leave no furniture on the pavement or beside a public bin; have bulky items collected from your home instead.

Frequently asked questions