On April 24, 2020, the Plastic Soup Foundation reported on an announcement from the State Secretary of Infrastructure and Water Management in the Netherlands that a 15 cent minimum deposit will be applied to all plastic beverage bottles sold in the country beginning on July 1, 2021. Details of the change were published in the form of an amendment to the 2014 Packaging Management Decree. The deposit will apply to containers of less than 3 liters in volume. Implementing the requirements under the EU’s single-use plastic directive (FPF reported), from January 1, 2022, producers or importers of plastic bottles in the Netherlands will also be responsible for ensuring that annually at least 90% of plastic bottles by weight are collected separately, including the caps and lids. Beginning next summer, Dutch consumers will be able to return small plastic bottles directly at train stations and gas stations.
“This is fantastic news!” said Maria Westerbos, director of the Plastic Soup Foundation, “Together with other environmental organizations, we have worked hard for this for many years. We warmly congratulate [State Secretary] Stientje van Veldhoven for her decision.”
There have been separate discussions within the Dutch government to also apply a deposit system on cans. Regulations have been drafted to introduce such a system beginning in 2022, however, no decision to adopt it has yet been made and discussions are ongoing.
Read more
Plastic Soup Foundation (April 24, 2020). “Deposit on plastic bottles: a victory in the fight against the plastic soup!”
Rossella Recupero (May 5, 2020). “The Netherlands move one step closer to better separate collection of plastic.” Zero Waste Europe
References
Rijksoverheid (April 24, 2020). “Letter to parliament on decision-making on deposit bottles and implementation of motions for cans.” (in Dutch)
Official Gazette of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (April 24, 2020). “Decree on measures of plastic beverage bottles.” (in Dutch)
