Bee-friendly Kontich and Lint

Lint and Kontich may call themselves “Bee-Friendliest Municipality” in the <40,000 inhabitants category in 2025. Under the motto “Together you are stronger”, Kontich and Lint combined their efforts. Besides what they did together, they each placed their own emphases. It led to a very comprehensive approach, but above all a very creative one, with totally new initiatives.

Kontich wants to plant a tree or shrub for every resident by 2030. Meanwhile, 17,000 trees have already been given a cutting. At the cemetery, willows are specially planted for the sand bees. They plant flowers in the flower boxes that bees need for their nectar and fallow land belonging to the municipality will be sown with flower mixtures. We also do extensive mowing management to provide additional food sources for the bees.

Among other things, Lint introduced a bee feeder, where passers-by could buy flower seeds for €0.50. Every Lint citizen could also order free allium plants (onion varieties) to benefit the garlic mask bee.
Together, the municipalities organised the Bee Happy, a large-scale awareness-raising event with workshops.

Each municipal bee hotel was given a QR code. When visitors scan the code, they are directed to a bee tweet or a YouTube video. Besides education for all Lint schools, the event also focused on education for technical service staff.

Bed & Breakfasts for wild pollinators

• Provide suitable habitats for wild pollinators, both in terms of nesting places (bed) and in terms of food plants and vegetation (breakfast);
• Diversify vegetation to include a range of plants (native species adapted to local pollinator populations) that bloom and provide abundant sources of pollen and nectar throughout spring, summer and fall (“bee pastures”);
• Create appropriate nesting places (piles of wood or sand, insect hotels, …), and permanent spots of bare soil for ground-nesting pollinator species;
• Create/enhance corridors to maintain the ecological continuity across the different types of green spaces and allow pollinators to move from one place to another.

Mowing and pruning management has been adapted for the benefit of bees: phased mowing and alternating pollard management.
Checking hives, monitoring nesting sites, monitoring and inventorying existing and new populations.
Continue to work on the basis of the bee plan of Natuurpunt.