A cardboard box from an online order. That was all it took for Jasper Linsen (36) and his wife Caroline (37) from Ghent to suddenly be labeled as illegal dumpers. In a black trash bag that did not belong to them, the city found a shipping label with one of their names on it. Result: a GAS fine of 120 euros. “We are always very correct and sort our waste dutifully. It feels unfair, because how are we supposed to prove this?”, they tell HLN consumer expert Safia Yachou. The Ghent ombudsman notices that citizens often get stuck in similar files.
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Jasper and his wife are fined 120 euros for illegal dumping: “Someone must have removed our address from our waste. How could this be otherwise?”
Bytaketonews
Jan 2, 2026