A complete bathroom that is dumped in nature is unfortunately nothing new for forester Erik de Jonge. The manager in the Brabantse Wal nature reserve recorded how often he found dumped waste in nature. “It’s antisocial behavior, just dumping your junk and not caring about what it does,” he tells NPO Radio1.
It is a bizarre scene: a sink, toilet bowl, tiles, roller blinds, insulation material, spotlights and window frames dumped in a beautiful piece of nature. Road users on the nearby A65 sounded the alarm on Monday. A 40-year-old man from Drunen was arrested on Wednesday for dumping the rubbish in the Moerenburg nature reserve (near Berkel-Enschot and Tilburg).
But it is no exception, explains ranger Erik de Jonge, who works in the Brabantse Wal nature reserve in West Brabant. “Unfortunately, we encounter these kinds of things very often in nature in Brabant. But it is still a shock when you see something like this. It is sad that this happens.”
He kept track of what they found in nature for a number of years. “I encountered on average between three hundred and four hundred waste dumps per year,” says De Jonge at NPO Radio1.
This means that it is almost a daily occurrence for the nature manager. “It varies from a wheelbarrow with asbestos sheets to an old sofa, DIY waste, rubble and completely demolished bathrooms.”
In several dozen cases per year, they are also able to identify the polluter. He then asks them why they do this. “Sometimes it’s pure laziness: the recycling center was closed, I thought I had to pay for it, that kind of thing. Sometimes it’s also ignorance. For example, people with a non-Dutch background say that they really didn’t know it wasn’t allowed.”
According to the nature manager, municipalities also play a role in the growing number of waste dumps. “Quite a few municipalities make it quite difficult to get rid of your construction waste.”
For example, he recently spoke to a handyman who also dumped waste in nature. He explained that he could not go to the recycling center with his company van and had been sent away. “It concerns a trailer that is too large, or the recycling center is often closed and you cannot go there. That somewhat encourages this behavior.”
But De Jonge notes that it often concerns antisocial behavior by people who are not interested in what they do with the mess. “It causes damage, it incurs costs for nature organizations and you ruin it for recreationists who enjoy nature.”
According to him, it is also a part of mentality. He points to Scandinavia where you can travel for weeks without encountering dumped waste. “We should be a little more concerned about the fact that we are not careful enough with our nature.”
View images of the waste that has been dumped here: