Mounds of trash and rats plague new Groningen neighborhood

The brand-new neighborhood of Oostergast in Zuidhorn is being overrun by rats, drawn by piles of cardboard boxes, bags full of plastic, and other refuse littering the roadside. Residents are at their wits’ end, RTV Noord reports

The neighborhood in the Groningen town is still under construction, but part of it is already inhabited. Roads are in place, but construction is still ongoing on several lots and will continue throughout the coming year.

The municipality of Westerkwartier, which covers Zuidhorn, will only take over responsibility for the neighborhood once it is completed. Until then, the municipality does not collect waste from the individual homes. Instead, it has placed signs at a waste collection point where the residents can put their recycling and other trash to be collected.

That did not work out as planned, locals told RTV Noord. A mountain of trash has accumulated, partly because the waste is not always collected. Separated waste must be disposed of correctly, according to the rules available on the municipality’s website and via a QR code at the collection point. If those rules aren’t followed precisely, the waste collection service does not collect the waste.

"People aren't well-informed," Frits Haverkamp, who lives next to the collection point, told the broadcaster. "Just yesterday, I spoke to someone who was leaving Styrofoam there. They didn't know that wasn't allowed. The pile may have grown so high by now that the QR code can no longer be scanned."

Initially, the residents of the older part of the Oostergast neighborhood would clean up the leftover waste themselves. “But after we discovered 30-centimeter-long rats, we decided to stop doing that, for the sake of public health,” resident Thomas de Zwart said.

People sometimes also put out waste whenever they want, instead of only on collection days. Because it sits uncovered by the roadside for days on end, it ends up scattered everywhere. “With even the slightest breeze, there’s trash all over the place,” De Zwart said.

The locals don’t understand why the municipality can’t just send in the garbage truck to collect the waste at the homes. “If a crane can drive through, then a municipal garbage truck should be able to get through too,” Haverkamp told the broadcaster.

A spokesperson for the municipality of Westerkwartier told RTV Noord that it is not allowed to send in waste collection vehicles until the construction company completes it and hands it over to the municipality. “If everyone disposes of their waste correctly, the neighborhood will remain clean and tidy. If waste is left behind, we ask residents to take it back with them."