Bruxelles-Propreté is equipping 16 of its rubbish collection vehicles with cameras that use artificial intelligence (AI) to record litter on the streets. The cameras accurately identify the most common types of litter found in Brussels, such as cigarette butts, paper and packaging, then link the litter to specific locations and times, allowing various teams to be deployed more efficiently. “It’s about deploying staff in the right place at the right time,” said Geoffroy Kensier, alderman for cleanliness in Ixelles. This trial phase is being conducted
over 700 kilometres of roads across Brussels-City, Anderlecht and Ixelles as an extension of an initial pilot project in 2024. The tool is not intended to monitor the work of staff. “The AI project will not undermine the value of Bruxelles-Propreté’s workers,” said deputy director Jos Raymenants. The camera system was developed by CortexIA, a Swiss company that has already collaborated with cities such as Hamburg, Zurich and Nice. The technology has also been tested in Ghent and Charleroi. The company developed the Clean City
Index (CCI), which measures cleanliness on a scale of zero to five. The CCI is displayed on a colour-coded map: blue for a very clean street and red for a road marked as “insufficiently clean”. If the trial phase proves successful, Brussels is considering rolling out the technology across the entire region in 2027. The issue of cleanliness in Brussels has been discussed extensively in recent years as the region tackles fly-tipping and litter in public places. A recent campaign from Brussels Environment aimed to
raise awareness about rubbish in parks in particular by not cleaning up any litter in one half of Elisabeth Park, highlighting the contrast with the other half of the park, which was cleared. Bins in the southern part of the park – between the Annie Cordy Tunnel and Avenue du Panthéon – were emptied, but litter on the ground was left for three days. At the campaign’s conclusion on Thursday morning, Brussels Environment resumed cleaning the park and all the collected rubbish will be piled
up to make the volume visible. In the afternoon, students from a local school, together with state secretary for the environment Ans Persoons (Vooruit), helped to clear away the remaining rubbish. “Those who respect the park keep it clean and thus healthy,” Persoons said. “Rubbish certainly does not simply break down in nature. A cigarette butt can pollute up to 500 litres of water, and it can take up to 500 years for a soft drink can to fully decompose. “To give an idea of
the rubbish that accumulates in the parks, in 2025, Brussels Environment collected almost 500 tonnes of rubbish.” This awareness-raising campaign forms part of the wider ‘We Are Park’ initiative, which aims to highlight that the clean-up work carried out by the regional authorities is essential in Brussels’ parks, and that anyone who uses a park should also keep it clean.
Brussels, Bruxelles-Propreté, AI cameras, litter mapping, cleanliness, Clean City Index, CortexIA, fly-tipping, Elisabeth Park campaign, Ans Persoons