is an initiative of Valipac
In Flanders, the competent administrative authority is the Openbare Vlaamse Afvalstoffenmaatschappij (OVAM).
The environmental legislation is laid down in the Flemish Government’s Materialendecreet (Decree on Materials) and the Vlarema Decision of the Flemish Government establishing the Flemish regulation on the sustainable management of material cycles and waste materials.
The Decree on Materials forms the basis for sustainable material management in Flanders. VLAREMA contains more detailed regulations on waste.
The current version of Vlarema is Vlarema 9.
Vlarema determines, among other things, the various sorting obligations imposed on companies. Just like households, companies are obliged to sort their waste.
Flanders does not impose a minimum threshold for sorting waste.
Municipalities are not obliged to collect waste from companies. Contact your municipality’s environmental department to see if your company can benefit from this service.
The organic waste sorting obligation applies to companies that serve hot meals at least once a week (regardless of internal/external catering).
In addition to sorting waste, your company must also organise its collection. In concrete terms, this means that you must sign a management agreement with a collector who is registered with OVAM. The collector must provide detailed information in the contract about the waste you need to sort.
Collectors must visually inspect their customers’ residual waste containers. If the visual inspection reveals sorting errors, a declaration of non-conformity shall be drawn up. Any non-conformity shall be recorded in a register of non-conformities. The registers are sent to OVAM.
Since 1 January 2023, Flemish companies have been obliged to use only transparent bags for industrial residual waste that is collected in containers. This makes it easier for collectors to check for any incorrect sorting.
Since 1 January 2021, Flemish legislation has stipulated that refuse bags must contain at least 80% recycled material. This percentage will increase to 100% from 1 January 2025. In both cases, at least half of the material must comprise recycled post-consumer plastics.
If waste covered by the sorting obligation is detected during the visual inspection, the collector has three options:
The collector may refuse to empty the residual waste container. If hazardous waste is present, emptying is ruled out anyway. The customer can then sort and put out their container again for the next collection.
The collector can empty the container and record the instance of non-compliance in the central non-conformity register kept by OVAM on the next working day. If this is applied to each container that has been incorrectly sorted, the residual waste can be disposed of by means of incineration.
The collector can take the waste, unload the full load and sort it out at a licensed location.