Deposit system needed to get healthy mussels again

3 July 2017 “To stem the tide of billions of plastic bottles, governments must urgently work on deposit return systems”. That is what environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk said on Thursday in response to the scoop by the British newspaper The Guardian, which shows that 1 million plastic bottles are sold every minute, and half of them end up in nature.

According to the exclusive figures published by The Guardian, more than 480 billion plastic bottles were sold in the world last year. A huge increase compared to ten years ago, when it was 300 billion bottles a year.

In the article, Coca-Cola says that there is not enough high-quality raw material to make the PET bottles from 100 percent recycled material. “But at the same time, Coca-Cola is actively fighting against deposits, which is precisely what yields that high-quality raw material. They themselves are the reason for the shortage,” Rob Buurman notes.

As a result of the sale of bottles, millions of tonnes of plastic end up in the oceans every year. Birds, fish and other marine animals ingest plastic particles. The Guardian also quotes the study by Ghent University which shows that people who eat fish and seafood ingest 11,000 small pieces of plastic every year.

“To get healthy mussels and healthy fish without plastic particles again, the problem must be tackled at the source,” says Rob Buurman, general director of Recycling Netwerk.

“Clean-up actions on beaches and at sea are actually like mopping the floor with the tap running. For our health, it is crucial that a deposit return system makes the beverage industry co-responsible for the millions of disposable packagings it produces. Ultimately, it is about our health and that of our children.”

Flemish Minister of Nature Joke Schauvliege (CD&V) previously said that she is studying deposit systems and will come to her conclusion in early 2018. In Norway and Germany, the government introduced a deposit return system that is cost-efficient, technically and legally solid.

“It is easy to adopt in Flanders and cheaper than current waste systems. It reduces the cost of collection and clean-up. With a deposit return system, consumers can simply return empty cans and plastic bottles to the supermarket. They then get their deposit back, as is already the case with glass bottles,” explains Rob Buurman.

“Only with a deposit return system would Flanders truly become a recycling champion. Hopefully, these figures in the billions about plastic bottles will encourage Schauvliege and her government partners N-VA and Open VLD to decide on the introduction of deposits on plastic bottles,” concludes Rob Buurman of Recycling Netwerk.

More info:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/jun/28/a-million-a-minute-worlds-plastic-bottle-binge-as-dangerous-as-climate-change

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/buitenland/1.3011849blikjes en plastic flessen