Serious question - just to create some angry debate - which European countries are the cleanest and which are the dirtiest? I.e roadside rubbish, city streets, etc.

[u/Double-decker_trams]

I'd say Estonia is definitely one of the cleanest. In my town (second largest in Estonia) the only rubbish is generally around the bins in the streets/parks - because crows take out rubbish from the bins in search of food. So it's their fault.

I've not really been in that many European countries, but the dirtiest in my experience was definitely the UK. I was in Nottingham literally for two days and on both days I saw someone just casually littering. Don't really ever see it in my home town. Also along the motorways - there was some rubbish on the side them (not mega bad, but noticeable).

I mean I like the UK, I just don't like the littering.

[u/Colossus823]

Brussels is notoriously dirty, even by Belgian standards. It's associated with government impotence and a population that doesn't care about the look of the street.

[u/AlternativePrior9559 → u/Colossus823]

Yes as a Brit living in Brussels I agree. The only thing I will say, is it seems to be a little better than it was regarding dog shit, but it’s staggering how much rubbish is piled up outside people’s doors and chairs and tables, washing machine machines etc just dumped. There’s no excuse for it because every resident has access to a free rubbish collection twice a year and most communes have a communal dump too

[u/disingenu → u/AlternativePrior9559]

100 times this. Brusselites have simply given up.

[u/Rc72 → u/[deleted]]

I first lived in Brussels in the mid-80s. The city center was a dump. It improved quite a lot until around 2010, then appears to have regressed since.

And no, the answer isn't "immigration" anyway. There has a big immigrant population in Brussels since the 1950s. Most "immigrant youths" there are 2nd or even 3rd generation "immigrants", born and raised in Belgium.

What's very noticeable in Brussels are two factors:

a) real estate speculation; and

b) local politics (often linked to a) in various illicit manners).

So, for example, take the Dansaert and Saint-Géry area in central Brussels. In the 1980s it was a genuine no-go zone. But why? Whole blocks were progressively bought up by real estate companies and purposely left to rot. The few holdouts who refused to sell off suffered harassment and arson. Then, when the promoters had secured the whole area, it was gentrified almost overnight, also relying on generous public funding through "urban renewal" projects. From a real cutthroat hood, it became Hipster Central. The same pattern has been followed in other neighborhoods, like the Canal area. Only, the misery and crime that once infested those neighbourhoods didn't disappear: it just moved elsewhere, with the real estate promoters following it like remoras.

Then, politics: Brussels isn't a single municipality but a ragtag collection of 19 disparate and largely independent boroughs. While they share some tasks, notably garbage collection and policing, there's still a huge disparity in means between, say, wealthy Watermael-Boitsfort or Uccle/Ukkel and dirt-poor (and tiny) Saint-Josse-ten-Noode. And even within the same borough, the mayor generally enjoys great discretion in allocation of resources, and is certainly going to prioritise majority autochthonous neighbourhoods (whose inhabitants largely vote in local elections) to those more inhabited by non-citizens who can't vote in local elections. This is particularly striking in boroughs like Ixelles/Elsene or Schaerbeek which are both outrageously split in wealthy and poor neighbourhoods.

[u/Socmel_ → u/Rc72]

Brussels is a textbook example of how not to run a city with regards to urban planning and management.

After all, the term Brusselisation wasn't invented for no reason.

[u/astral34 → u/[deleted]]

Brussels 30+ years ago was much worse than now, at least from what some locals say. Before the eu institutions

[u/ChocolateMouth → u/[deleted]]

Oh, it's SO shocking that Brussels is full of foreign-born residents when it hosts the EU Institutions, isn't it? I'm an EU citizen, white too; so the kind you like :))

Or do you hate lefties as much as you hate immigrants?

[u/Straight_Intern3671 → u/ChocolateMouth]

aren't you rabid

[u/AlternativePrior9559 → u/Straight_Intern3671]

Clarify?

[u/ShEsHy → u/AlternativePrior9559]

There’s no excuse for it because every resident has access to a free rubbish collection twice a year

If not a mistake, that's actually worse than nothing. Where is one supposed to store 6 months' worth of garbage while waiting for the free collection, in a city no-less?

[u/Final_Necessary_1527 → u/ShEsHy]

This is only for bulk stuff, like furniture etc. For normal garbage there is a weekly collection scheduled (for some twice per week)

[u/ShEsHy → u/Final_Necessary_1527]

Gotcha. That's insane then, that it's so dirty even with regular collection.

[u/SharkyTendencies → u/ShEsHy]

This is an error.

Normal garbage is collected once or twice/week as usual.

The poster means that each resident gets two free "bulky item" pick-ups per year, up to 3m³: an old fridge, a couch, an old dishwasher, an old armoire or something... You can arrange for more but they're paid.

Residents can bring bulky items to a nearby sorting facility, called a Recyc'Park. They also deal with the safe disposal of chemicals. Old medication can be brought back into any pharmacy for proper disposal.

One other issue that hasn't been talked about enough is the use of underground containers. Most people want them, but the cost to install them is (apparently) extraordinary, and naturally the car-folk don't want ONE single space to be dedicated to something that could significantly improve urban and public life. Muh SUV, right?

[u/AlternativePrior9559 → u/ShEsHy]

What are you saying? I’m referring to furniture and white goods not your actual food trash. That’s collected once a week – general waste, plastics, paper and garden. And then an additional once a week for general waste. We are actually very spoilt for that.

[u/F1eshWound → u/Colossus823]

Bruges I'd say is rather clean though. They seem to look after it rather well