Inauguration of the Municipalities-Region Cooperation Council for Urban Cleanliness

On the afternoon of Friday 23 June, the Hôtel communal de Schaerbeek was the venue for the inaugural Municipalities-Region Cooperation Council for Urban Cleanliness. Its creation is a key measure in the "clean.brussels" strategy.  

The council is a response to the desire to establish a framework for dialogue and structural cooperation between the players involved in the issues of public cleanliness and the living environment in Brussels. 
It has several fundamental objectives:

• to enable consultation on regional cleanliness policy with the players most concerned,  
• to facilitate communication, decision-making and cooperation between institutional players,  
• to coordinate the implementation of measures arising from this strategy,  
• to evaluate clean public policies.  

The Municipalities-Region Cooperation Council for Urban Cleanliness is chaired by the Minister responsible for urban cleanliness and brings together the main regional bodies involved in the clean.brussels strategy, namely Bruxelles-Propreté, Bruxelles Environnement, Bruxelles Mobilité, STIB and safe.brussels, as well as Brulocalis and the Brussels municipalities, represented by the Alderman of Alderwoman of Public Cleaning and Green Spaces.. 

All these players participated with interest in this first session, whose agenda had been prepared in advance by a Bureau made up of regional and municipal authorities.

The council discussed a number of topical issues and drew up an initial progress report on the main public cleanliness initiatives. The program can be viewed here.  

Over the coming weeks, a number of thematic groups will be set up on the priority subjects voted by the Council: 

• Local authority/region agreements 
• The impact of refuse collection on cleanliness 
• Management of complaints and requests for assistance 
• Managing commercial waste and keeping shopping streets clean 
• Optimization of litter bins 
• Study of underground containers 

According to several speakers, this new council has proved to be a useful forum for exchanges between stakeholders who did not communicate enough with each other in the past.  The next meeting of the Council is scheduled for 17 October 2023.

"Setting up a Municipalities-Region Cooperation Council for Urban Cleanliness, establishing a framework for dialogue and structural cooperation between actors" is measure 1 of objective 1 of the urban cleanliness strategy clean.brussels: Create lasting and effective channels for consultation and cooperation between the Region and the municipalities on the subject of urban cleanliness.