HOUSERULES – Garbage – IN HOUSE Rules
Garbage issue in the kitchen/terrace:
- Piles of bags outside the terrace distributing a bad image, smell and attracting vermin
- Piles of paper and cardboard boxes and packaging even tissues (corona!!!) in the laundry room and kitchen entrance, near the kitchen window
- Glass bottles piling up on the window tablet, still containing liquids or food, left in the sun: smell, flies, vermin, view….
Please know the kitchen is not a garbage collection room …
It’s a lot of information but please take an effort to read it, some of your fellow tenants participated in trying to setup these solutions with us, so we count on you also.
Here is a reminder of the current House regulations on garbage as they should be followed:
Waste that finds its origin IN YOUR ROOM >> remains in your room
- Paper: in your room until collection day
- Glass: in your room until you bring it to the glass container
- PMD: in your room until collection day
- Rest: in your room until collection day
Waste that finds its origin while USING THE KITCHEN >> only this garbage can be sorted correctly IN THE BINS in the kitchen, NO garbage from your room is to be brought to the kitchen.
- Paper: is collected is collected every 2 weeks on WEDNESDAY
- paper garbage is to be kept in your room until collection day (Wednesday every 2 weeks)
- PMD (blue bag): is collected every 2 weeks on WEDNESDAY, for this reason: ONLY PMD package of goods used while cooking in the kitchen can be placed in the kitchen bin following the conditions:
- Package is clean and all food rests are removed before putting it in the PMD bag
- If the bag is full it can be ‘temporary’ placed in the container on the terrace until the first next collection day (every 2 weeks)
- Tenants follow a planning to take turns of who will be bringing the PMD outside for the next collection date
- REST (brown bag): is collected weekly on TUESDAY, ONLY package of goods used while cooking in the kitchen can be placed in the kitchen bin following the conditions:
- If the bag is full it can be ‘temporary’ placed in the container on the terrace until the first next collection day (every week)
- Tenants follow a planning to take turns of who will be bringing the PMD outside for the next collection date
- GREEN WASTE: Collected weekly on FRIDAY, ONLY waste of goods used while cooking in the kitchen can be placed in the kitchen
- GREEN bags should never be put on the terrace.
- I would suggest to place the green waste in smaller and sealed bags, then inside the brown bags. We do not provide a green container as green bags rip and green containers are not collected by the city garbage team
- Tenants follow a planning to take turns of who will be bringing the PMD outside for the next collection date
- Glass: to be brought to the container every week
- To be stored in your room until you bring it to the container place on sint-jacobsplein
- Have foreseen a plastic box stored under the sink to collect kitchen glass following these CONDITIONS:
- ONLY for bowls coming from use while cooking in the kitchen
- NO tenant will abuse it for their personal glass dumping
- Whoever places glass there, washes/rinses it well before placing it and leaves the cap on
- Tenants make a planning to take turns of who will be bringing the box to the glass container once every week.
IF these rules are being ignored and we continue getting complaints, what will happen:
- All garbage bins will be removed from the kitchen, all tenants are to keep all waste in their own rooms always, also the smelly waste !
- We will organize a garbage management service at expense of all tenants:
- if I need to pay somebody extra 2 days per week to come put the garbage outside, the average cost would be 10€/tenant/month
- We can organize a private garbage collection service at expense of all tenants : I have informed with container collection companies to have 3 big containers, this is very expensive, the average cost would be 27€/tenant/month, unfortunately the city does not offer such a service so we cannot place private containers in the street.
Then again we have 2 other problems with containers:- a heavy container will damage the radiator to move it up/down the terrace
- Who will put the containers outside? Or how will give the private company (strangers) access to the building?
- We believe the planning for putting garbage outside for every studio one week means it has to be done by each tenant every 19 weeks, so i assume that is not too much of an effort. Please do not damage the radiator by pulling containers over it!
What we are going to do/doing already to help you manage your waste:
- I placed a blue box under the sink for storage of glass used in the kitchen : regulation: https://for-rent-leuven.com/garbage-glass/
- We will provide a board in the kitchen wall Friday where you can make a planning and messages to each other: ALL tenants have to participate!
- I will look for a solution to ‘hide’ the bags that are ‘temporarily’ placed outside, I count on everybody’s cooperation to keep it clean and organized if we do this investment. ALL tenants have to participate!
- I ordered the paper garbage calendar, https://www.leuven.be/vraag-afvalkalender-aan but it will be sent to Leuven, maybe some of the tenants also order a calendar so we have a few copies to place here and there? Or is somebody available to go pickup a dozen of calendars in the city hall?
Who will keep an eye on the mailboxes for the arriving calendars as it carries my name
- I created an online calendar to plan the ‘put it outside’ tasks per room: https://for-rent-leuven.com/gargbage-planning/
- https://calendar.google.com/calendar/u/0?cid=NmJrNmtqbGcwbm92NG51YmJqMTl2azVnamdAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ
Every room takes a week to manage the collective waste, this way everybody will be responsible 1 time every few months only?!
Other Ideas & info to improve the kitchen cleanliness and garbage management are welcome =)
- https://www.leuven.be/en/waste-management
- Online Collection calendar https://recycleapp.be/calendar
- If you do take turn roles, make a planning using ROOM NUMBERS instead of names, so it will include everybody also new tenants or tenants that are less concerned in the group
- Any other ideas? Suggestions?
