21,000 lost objects at Brussels Airport in 2023

21% is collected, uncollected items donated to charities

As many as 22.2 million passengers passed through Brussels Airport in 2023. All departing passengers (half of them) also have to pass the security screening. Both in the bins at this checkpoint and elsewhere at the airport, 21,230 items were forgotten in 2023. 21% of these could be returned to the owner, the other items were not reported as lost and were not collected. Brussels Airport likes to remind passengers that they can fill in a claim and come and collect them up to six months later. A large part of the uncollected items is donated to charities. 

With millions of passengers at the airport every year, things are sometimes forgotten during the journey through the airport. Baggage with a baggage label is always followed up by the airline or handling agent, and can be collected there, but any other items forgotten at the airport end up at Brussels Airport’s Lost & Found team.

Every item, whether it is a key, a belt, a backpack or jewellery, is registered and kept for up to six months after the find. In 2023, 21,230 different objects were registered. These include electronics (laptops, phones and tablets), clothing (many belts) and identity cards and passports.  21% of these objects are reclaimed, that concerned mainly laptops, unlabelled hand luggage, identity cards/passports, clothing, jewellery or phones.

Brussels Airport likes to remind all passengers that they can easily report lost items on the website. The Lost & Found team is happy to reunite passengers with their lost items, which are kept for six months. Official documents are handed over to the federal police after one month, after which it is no longer possible to collect them.

Cooperation with charities
Uncollected items also get a great destination. For example, all liquids, ranging from unopened drinks containers to food and care products, are donated to local PCSWs and other non-profit organisations. These are not just lost items, but also the containers of more than 100 ml that are not allowed past the security control.  Brussels Airport was able to donate no less than 34,760 kilograms of these products in 2023. Only new closed products are donated, opened products will be recycled.

Electronic devices are donated to the Belgian non-profit organisation Close the Gap. This organisation’s mission is to close the digital divide in the world. They ensure that abandoned electronic devices that are not collected after six months end up in educational, social and medical projects in developing countries.  Clothes and prams are also donated to good causes; in 2023, clothes were donated following the earthquake in Turkey and uncollected prams went to Spullenhulp/Les Petit Riens. The remaining uncollected items, which include large quantities of trouser belts and glasses, are processed and sold through an auction house.