Legal Advice on Environmental Violations

Questioner

I am a student living in Maastricht. The municipality of Maastricht has a strict policy regarding the offering of waste, this is only allowed at certain times on certain days. I live in an apartment with 2 others, I rent a room through a housing corporation. We therefore also share a trash can. One of my housemates put a garbage bag outside on Thursday December 22nd, on the street, because he was going to his parents' house to celebrate Christmas, and he 'didn't want that garbage bag to be there for 2 weeks' - the trash can is on the balcony, by the way, and I was back home after a week, so this wasn't even necessary, but okay-. This was illegal, because this is only allowed every other Tuesday (and the Monday night before). I (apparently) threw letters ozd in this garbage bag, because a week later, on Friday December 30th, I found a letter in my mailbox stating that I had put a bag of garbage outside on the street on a day that was not allowed. This letter told me that someone had come by on December 28th to talk to me about this, but I was not home because I was with my family for Christmas. I then called the municipality last Friday, January 6 (at the request of the letter), but the person in charge of the case was not present, so he called me back today. He told me that I would get a fine of 108 euros 'clean-up costs'. (which I find incredibly high for cleaning up 1 garbage bag). I asked a friend of mine, whose father works for the municipality and who studies law himself, if he could tell me what I could do best. His father could not do anything else, except that I should call the municipality quickly. My friend told me that I cannot file an objection to this case, why I do not know exactly. So the thing is, my roommate committed a violation - taking out the trash illegally - and I'm being accused of it and getting a fine. According to the official on the phone, I couldn't contest this, and the only thing he said I could do was politely ask my roommate to pay it, or else file a civil case against him. I just told my roommate this, and he has no intention of paying 'I have no legal problem, you are the one with the problem'. He just kept repeating that you can definitely object to it, and that I should do that. Then he said 'then we'll go to the municipality', and then I convinced him to go with me to the municipality next Thursday. I hope that I can get a confession from him here, under the witness of a municipal official, and that I can perhaps use this to prove (in a civil case?) that this was not me. The only proof I have that it was him who committed the violation is a WhatsApp message saying 'yes I put a bag outside because otherwise it would have been there for 2 weeks, sorry I didn't know you would get into trouble because there was another bag outside' (but in English, he is Dutch by the way but my other housemate is German). I'm a student with not much to spend, who has to borrow everything, so 108 euros is a big blow. I don't know if such a whatsapp message has any value as evidence. I don't know how a civil case works. I simply have no idea how to approach this, because I am not prepared to pay a fine for something I didn't do! Hopefully someone here can help me with this.

Lawyer

It is not a civil case but an environmental offence that can be brought before a criminal court. You may represent yourself there and explain your story, I think that it may be worthwhile now that you also have proof that it was not you but someone else who placed the bag outside. The judge could state that the housemates must make arrangements for this and that you must pay anyway. If that is the case, you can then safely address your housemate about this fact and ask whether he wants to contribute to the fine.