Albert, will you be my ValentHeijn?

On Wednesday 14 February, Valentine's Day, residents in a dozen Dutch municipalities will head to their local AH supermarket with a Valentine's card and an AH bottle or can they found in the litter. By doing so, they are kindly asking the supermarket chain to declare its support for deposits.

#ValentHeijn Tweets

Albert Heijn is one of the parties lobbying hardest against extending deposit schemes to all plastic bottles and cans. This campaign, which is also running on social media with the hashtag #ValentHeijn, encourages the Albert Heijn chain to follow the example of supermarket Ekoplaza. Ekoplaza was the first supermarket chain to come out in favour of deposit schemes as a way to combat litter.

On 15 March, the House of Representatives will hold a General Consultation on the circular economy and, more specifically, deposits. The campaigners' "warm heartfelt wish" is for Albert Heijn to announce its agreement with deposit schemes before then. To put it in the words of the Valentine's card: "Dear Albert, will you be my ValentHeijn? Then support deposit schemes too."

The ValentHeijn action is part of the successful Back to Sender campaign by environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux. People return bottles and cans, found on the street or in nature, to the manufacturer with a request to support the introduction of deposits. This is done on social media using the hashtag #BackToSender. In addition, many people also actually send the beverage packaging by mail, to the manufacturers' freepost numbers.

Plastic bottles and cans make up no less than 40% of the volume of litter. A poll by Radar shows that 74 percent of Dutch people are positive about extending the deposit system to small bottles and cans. Research by CE Delft shows that with deposit schemes, the volume of cans and bottles in litter will drop by 70 to 90 percent. The United Kingdom is about to introduce deposits, and the French government is also considering it.

On Wednesday 14 February, Valentine's Day, residents in a dozen Dutch municipalities will head to their local AH supermarket with a Valentine's card and an AH bottle or can they found in the litter. By doing so, they are kindly asking the supermarket chain to declare its support for deposits.

#ValentHeijn Tweets

Albert Heijn is one of the parties lobbying hardest against extending deposit schemes to all plastic bottles and cans. This campaign, which is also running on social media with the hashtag #ValentHeijn, encourages the Albert Heijn chain to follow the example of supermarket Ekoplaza. Ekoplaza was the first supermarket chain to come out in favour of deposit schemes as a way to combat litter.

On 15 March, the House of Representatives will hold a General Consultation on the circular economy and, more specifically, deposits. The campaigners' "warm heartfelt wish" is for Albert Heijn to announce its agreement with deposit schemes before then. To put it in the words of the Valentine's card: "Dear Albert, will you be my ValentHeijn? Then support deposit schemes too."

The ValentHeijn action is part of the successful Back to Sender campaign by environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux. People return bottles and cans, found on the street or in nature, to the manufacturer with a request to support the introduction of deposits. This is done on social media using the hashtag #BackToSender. In addition, many people also actually send the beverage packaging by mail, to the manufacturers' freepost numbers.

Plastic bottles and cans make up no less than 40% of the volume of litter. A poll by Radar shows that 74 percent of Dutch people are positive about extending the deposit system to small bottles and cans. Research by CE Delft shows that with deposit schemes, the volume of cans and bottles in litter will drop by 70 to 90 percent. The United Kingdom is about to introduce deposits, and the French government is also considering it.