The waste processor ceases for one day, and the Rotterdam waste containers are full

An empty wrap package, a pack of unsweetened almond drink, half a brown bread, cardboard and two peppers. It is the contents of a transparent garbage bag dumped in the Glashaven in addition to the underground waste container. Next to it are a few dark gray bags, with a part of a broken street broom on top. Two screaming seagulls already have their lunch in mind.

The waste container itself is full. It is the result of the three -day strike at national waste burners, organized by trade union FNV. The industry fears the impact of a total of around 579 million euros in taxes that the now -a -outsourcus cabinet wants to impose. The measures would lead to a higher waste tax for citizens, and possibly even herald the closure of waste processors. Thousands of jobs are at stake, according to the FNV.

Because the gates of AVR waste incineration installation remain closed until Thursday morning, the municipality of Rotterdam has not been collecting the residual waste since Monday. Normally a few dozen garbage trucks drive up and down several times every day to the processor on the outskirts of the city, good for around 95 deposits per day at AVR. Now residents have been asked to bring their waste away to bins that are not yet full, and otherwise take them back home.

In the streets of the Wijnhaven area, Straat sweeper Teixeira, together with his colleague, is busy puncturing flying candy papers, cigarettes and other litter. According to him, there is more than normal. « It’s a mess, » he says, « Seagulls pick waste bags open, or people are looking for deposit cans. » The strike campaign of his colleagues at the waste processor is a good thing: « Those men have families, they must also eat. »

Also around the infamous statue ‘Santa Claus’, better known as ‘Kabouter Buttplug’, the necessary waste winds around. Every now and then, at the adjacent Coffee Company, junk blows ‘like a whirlwind’ over the terrace or in, says Barista Leen Houdijk (18). The containers of the catering business are emptied, because commercial parties are collected in Rotterdam in Rotterdam. Because the underground container at the statue is closed, local residents must resist the garbage to put their garbage on the catering waste.

Political impact

Yet most Rotterdammers turn out to be neat people after a day and a half. Although garbage bins protrude everywhere, the number of dumped bags can be counted on one hand in both the center and in the Afrikaanderwijk, for example. « We see that the containers are now starting to get full, » says a municipal spokesperson. « Of course we are worried how that will develop in the coming days. » When combating nuisance, it helps that the municipality recyclable waste such as paper or glass these days ‘just’ pick up. It is even « fully committed ».

If the garbage is already accumulating somewhere, then it is behind the front door. The average Rotterdammer produces around 321.9 kilos of residual waste annually, reported The Central Bureau of Statistics last year. For comparison: the national average is at 177 kilos. However, there is a role whether municipalities do post -separation or not. A municipality like Rotterdam does that, so that citizens can offer more waste as residual waste.

Nationally, FNV sees problems with street waste in Amsterdam and the east of the country, although, according to FNV director Hanan Yagoubi, nuisance is « not the approach or purpose » of the strike. She did not expect such a ‘fast impact’ on the streets, she says. At the same time, the question is what the political impact of the strike will be, now that the cabinet has fallen: « The tax measures can be explained controversially, » Yagoubi thinks aloud. « But standing policy continues, and part of that is a comprehensive budget. The Hague must find the 579 million euros to the left or to the right. »

If politicians do not delete the levy on waste processors, then according to Yagoubi, follow -up actions will come « anyway ». Contrary to what an FNV member member at Omroep Gelderland claimedaccording to Yagoubi, that will not be around the NATO summit of three weeks. « I don’t think that is appropriate. Those men (world leaders) come here and are received by a country that already has a outgoing government. The Netherlands deserves better. » The FNV director only expects a new, longer strike after Prinsjesdag.

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