Can you receive a fine after depositing waste at the entrance to a recycling park? The answer is yes. This is what happened recently to José, who contacted us via the orange “Alert us” button. He received a fine of 400 euros, an amount he considers excessive. He who, he says, acted as a good citizen.
In June 2023, José sees an armchair on the side of the road, in front of his home. The resident of Seraing made the decision to evacuate him to the recyparc in his town, one evening around 9 p.m. He will be contacted a few days later to explain his actions.
“One morning I got up and, as I was going out, I saw an armchair by the side of the road. I picked it up and put it on the sidewalk, but it was in the way.” he assures. “At 9 p.m., I knew very well that the recycling center was closed. As I passed by from time to time and I saw that people were leaving things in front, I decided to go and leave the chair. I saw that “There was a camera. I didn’t hide. I thought I was legal instead of going to drop it off somewhere else… I thought it wouldn’t be a problem.” he adds.
A week later, on June 16, 2023, José received a letter indicating that his deposition had been filmed. “I responded, apologized and heard nothing more. But, recently, this May 28, I received a registered letter on which it is written that I must pay a fine of 400 euros. I don’t find it normal to have to pay a fine while remaining a good citizen, by clearing the sidewalk. Nobody took care of this chair. I don’t see why I get a fine of 400 euros for going to drop it off in front of the resource center. I explained everything, but still, I received this fine. I find it unfair, because if I had left it in the middle of nature and I had been filmed, I would have been a polluter. (…) I didn’t leave it anywhere“.
And to conclude: “I didn’t know I wasn’t allowed to put it there. I thought when they got there the next morning they were going to open the doors, take the chair, and throw it away. I didn’t think I was doing anything wrong“.
There are a lot of illegal dumps in our town.
For her part, the mayor of Seraing explains why the municipal authorities are intransigent regarding illegal deposits. “There are a lot of illegal dumps in our town, and in the case mentioned, the gentleman left a chair in front of the recycling park, but at the same time put a trash bag and a board. He tried by all means, within the framework of a hearing, to justify his action, but nothing can justify going to the recyparc at 9 p.m., at closing time“, replies Déborah Géradon.
“Especially since here, in Seraing, it’s free. If you have bulky items, just make a call and we will come and collect them from your home. This type of act which consists of leaving waste or bulky items in public spaces cannot be tolerated. We are super strict on the subject“.
Seraing having been the victim of numerous clandestine deposits, a policy “strict” was thus put in place by the authorities. “In Seraing, there are two types of sanctions. There is the financial sanction presented to the polluter, where he is told that he must pay a certain amount as part of his clandestine deposit. And recently, we have also managed to put in place a system which allows the polluter not to pay, but to come and collect. So that he realizes what it’s like to collect illegal deposits all day long all over the country. We are the first municipality in Wallonia to have this in place. The first people will start collecting waste in July“.
The financial penalty thus concerns small deposits. When the deposits are more “notable“, the municipality wishes to raise awareness among its citizens. “We try to ensure that there is some sort of education behind the sanction. We say to ourselves that when the person has to go and collect waste for 2-3 hours, they will perhaps end up understanding everything that is behind it to try to make the communities clean. We implemented this in April“.
Why is Seraing particularly concerned by illegal deposits? “We are in a former steelworks area, where there is a lot of land that is being converted, abandoned, easy to access, so obviously a lot of people have used this land to be able to deposit their waste. When the city has to manage them, it is the Seresians who pay. It is therefore my duty to ensure that our money is well managed. When we see in the images that the gentleman has not only left an armchair, it is really a clandestine deposit. This is not a civic act as he tries to make people believe. We are lucky to have a municipal area that is fairly well covered by cameras. An administration agent met the gentleman based on the images. Between his words and the images, we could clearly see that it did not match and that we were not there in an act of good faith. We were in an act of clandestine deposit. We are really strict on this, and we don’t want this to happen again.“, underlines Déborah Géradon.
In Seraing, 40 teams go around the town every day to pick up the different deposits. “And if you have a bulky item, you can call the resource center and they will pick it up from your home for free. There is nothing that justifies this gentleman’s action. In this location we have city cameras, because it is a place where illegal dumping is regularly found“.
Note that the administrative fine in Seraing can vary from 50 to 100,000 euros.
Wild dumping in front of recycling centers happens frequently
Jean-Jacques De Paoli, the spokesperson for Intradel (the intercommunal association for waste treatment in Liège), affirms that “unfortunately, illegal dumping in front of recycling centers happens frequently. Not daily, but we see a fairly large number over the year“.
Jean-Jacques De Paoli explains that there are two types of deposits: “Waste that we do not take back, for which we must make a declaration to the Walloon Region, and the less problematic, waste that we take back. Normally, we shouldn’t do this, but there is an aspect of good management. There is a desire to manage this properly. Intradel manages and treats waste for 72 municipalities. Our vocation is almost that of public cleanliness. From the moment waste is placed in front of the park gate and we treat it by sending it to the correct recycling channel, the correct behavior on the part of the ecoguides is to take the waste and put it in the appropriate container.“.
Intradel indicates that it does not have significant resources to carry out an investigation.
“When they are bags of residual household waste, there can be an investigation, because in the bag, we can find evidence and know who these bags belong to. If you have an armchair or a chair left in front of the recycling park, it “It’s quite complicated to carry out an investigation, even if there are cameras aimed at protecting the park and not the surrounding area.” explains Jean-Jacques De Paoli.
“Outside the park, by definition, we are on the public highway. If the waste is really problematic, we can use surveillance cameras, file a complaint with the police, which can lead to legal action. The police can ask us to use images from surveillance cameras And if the images allow us to identify a malicious person, we of course participate.
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