Diepenbeek installs garbage bins for pizza boxes to prevent litter (Diepenbeek)

Four rubbish bins have been placed in Diepenbeek that are only intended for empty pizza boxes. In this way, the municipality wants to put an end to overfilled ‘normal’ rubbish bins and boxes lying around. The pilot project will run until after the winter.

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The municipality has placed the large, brown pizza box garbage bins in four places in Diepenbeek: on the Marktplein near the church, on the Servaasplein near the Plak, on the Schoverikplein and at the entrance to the Demerstrand sports park. With a popular takeaway pizzeria in the center, there was regularly a problem with empty pizza boxes that were left on the street as soon as the enthusiasts had their piece of Italy.

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Or the large cardboard boxes were pushed into the existing rubbish bins on the squares, which immediately made them overflowing. “We were really bothered by litter and nuisance caused by those pizza boxes. Our civil servants could pick up the cardboard in front of their door almost every day,” said the environmental service in Diepenbeek.

Coach

And so they started looking for a solution. “Together with the Public Flemish Waste Company (OVAM). We participated in a coaching program that they tailor-made for each municipality. For tackling litter in our case. The pizza box trash bins were the final step in that plan.”

They got their inspiration in cities such as Ghent, Antwerp and Tienen. “Prior to the pilot project, a kind of baseline measurement was taken. To see how many boxes were lying around and where. And how full the regular garbage bins were with cardboard. The project has now started, in the meantime we will take a few more measurements. In any case, the containers will remain until after the winter. Then the evaluation follows,” according to the municipal council.

Residual waste

The brown containers – with a special slot for pizza boxes – are regularly emptied by municipal services. If the cardboard is still really clean, it can be thrown in the paper waste. But the vast majority goes to the residual waste container at the technical department. “Many people do not know that those pizza boxes are residual waste. Because they are often dirty and there are still food remains in them.”