Collection figures for small plastic bottles show need for political adjustment of deposit system

In the second half of 2021, Rijkswaterstaat (Directorate-General for Public Works and Water Management) counted 41 percent fewer small plastic bottles in litter than in the second half of 2020. This is shown by the monitoring results of Rijkswaterstaat, which were made public today by State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (see Chart 1). Chart 1 Research by 'Zwerfinator' Dirk Groot previously also showed that the share of small plastic bottles in litter has decreased since the introduction of deposit on 1 July 2021. In the last quarter of 2021, he registered 70.2 percent fewer plastic bottles per kilometer than the average of the last quarters of the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (see Chart 2 for measurements of Rijkswaterstaat and Dirk Groot). Chart 2 The expected minimum of 70% fewer plastic bottles in the environment is not yet achieved In the letter to the House of Representatives, State Secretary Heijnen is positive about the 41 percent drop, but a deposit system has the potential to reduce the number of bottles in litter by 70 to 90 percent. That was concluded by CE Delft in the deposit study commissioned by the Dutch government. These figures were also the basis for the performance requirement that then-State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven imposed on the business community: the industry had to reduce the share of plastic bottles in litter by at least 70 percent before 2020. When this failed, the government took the decision to introduce a deposit system. Now that the monitoring results of Rijkswaterstaat are known, it appears that this 70 percent reduction in the number of plastic bottles in litter is currently not clearly achieved with the Dutch deposit system. It is important to realize that this is a lower limit; with a well-designed deposit system, the share of plastic bottles that end up in the environment can be reduced by up to 90 percent. This is therefore the ambition we expect and demand from the Dutch government. Collection figures also show shortcomings in the deposit system for small plastic bottles In addition to the expectation of a sharp drop in the number of bottles in litter, there is also the legal obligation to separately collect 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2022. The collection percentage of plastic bottles is therefore another indicator that helps to determine how well the deposit system is functioning. During the two-minute debate on 3 February 2022, Member of Parliament Eva van Esch of the Party for the Animals therefore requested the collection percentages of small plastic bottles from State Secretary Heijnen. The State Secretary indicated that she expected a report on this from the business community on 1 August 2022 and would be able to inform the House of Representatives shortly afterwards. On 23 February 2022, Statiegeld Nederland itself published a press release stating that "since the start of the new deposit system in mid-2021 […] an average of 70% of plastic bottles were returned". This shows that the deposit system is currently still far from achieving the separate collection target of 90 percent. Another important caveat to this percentage is that it concerns both small and large plastic bottles. And this means that the figure is pulled up by the return percentage of large plastic bottles, which lies at approximately 95 percent. This shows that the collection percentage for small plastic bottles is still significantly below 70 percent. And it is precisely those small bottles that have ended up in large numbers in the environment so far and for which the new policy was formed. Political correction is needed More data and more time are needed to establish a clear trend and to see how this develops further, but the figures already provide sufficient reason for political correction at this time. In an interim evaluation, we have already identified some shortcomings in the current design of the deposit system for small bottles. These can now serve as a guide for politics on ways to improve the system. Think of the absence of the obligation to take back for points of sale. In almost all deposit countries, a take-back obligation is part of the legislation and also in the Netherlands it was previously part of the Packaging Management Decree 2014. By removing the take-back obligation from the law, we now have to deal with large shops such as AH To Go, HEMA, Kruidvat and Action, eating establishments like McDonalds and La Place and theatres, cinemas and universities that do not pay the consumer a deposit when they want to return their bottle there. Therefore, oblige points of sale of bottles to also pay out deposit, with a possible exception for small retailers. Another shortcoming is that not all plastic bottles have a deposit, but drinks with dairy and juices are excluded. It is a major improvement that the deposit system was recently opened to juices

In the second half of 2021, Rijkswaterstaat counted 41 percent fewer small plastic bottles in litter than in the second half of 2020. This is shown by the monitoring results of Rijkswaterstaat, which were made public today by State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen (see Chart 1).

Chart 1

Research by Zwerfinator Dirk Groot previously also showed that the share of small plastic bottles in litter has decreased since the introduction of deposit on 1 July 2021. In the last quarter of 2021, he registered 70.2 percent fewer plastic bottles per kilometer than the average of the last quarters of the years 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020 (see Chart 2 for measurements of Rijkswaterstaat and Dirk Groot).

Chart 2

The expected minimum of 70% fewer plastic bottles in the environment is not yet achieved

In the letter to the House of Representatives, State Secretary Heijnen is positive about the 41 percent drop, but a deposit system has the potential to reduce the number of bottles in litter by 70 to 90 percent. That was concluded by CE Delft in the deposit study commissioned by the Dutch government. These figures were also the basis for the performance requirement that then-State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven imposed on the business community: the industry had to reduce the share of plastic bottles in litter by at least 70 percent before 2020. When this failed, the government took the decision to introduce a deposit system.

Now that the monitoring results of Rijkswaterstaat are known, it appears that this 70 percent reduction in the number of plastic bottles in litter is currently not clearly achieved with the Dutch deposit system. It is important to realize that this is a lower limit; with a well-designed deposit system, the share of plastic bottles that end up in the environment can be reduced by up to 90 percent. This is therefore the ambition we expect and demand from the Dutch government.

Collection figures also show shortcomings in the deposit system for small plastic bottles

In addition to the expectation of a sharp drop in the number of bottles in litter, there is also the legal obligation to separately collect 90 percent of plastic bottles by 2022. The collection percentage of plastic bottles is therefore another indicator that helps to determine how well the deposit system is functioning.

During the two-minute debate on 3 February 2022, Member of Parliament Eva van Esch of the Party for the Animals therefore requested the collection percentages of small plastic bottles from State Secretary Heijnen. The State Secretary indicated that she expected a report on this from the business community on 1 August 2022 and would be able to inform the House of Representatives shortly afterwards. On 23 February 2022, Statiegeld Nederland itself published a press release stating that "since the start of the new deposit system in mid-2021 […] an average of 70% of plastic bottles were returned".

This shows that the deposit system is currently still far from achieving the separate collection target of 90 percent. Another important caveat to this percentage is that it concerns both small and large plastic bottles. And this means that the figure is pulled up by the return percentage of large plastic bottles, which lies at approximately 95 percent. This shows that the collection percentage for small plastic bottles is still significantly below 70 percent. And it is precisely those small bottles that have ended up in large numbers in the environment so far and for which the new policy was formed.

Political correction is needed

More data and more time are needed to establish a clear trend and to see how this develops further, but the figures already provide sufficient reason for political correction at this time.

In an interim evaluation, we have already identified some shortcomings in the current design of the deposit system for small bottles. These can now serve as a guide for politics on ways to improve the system.

Think of the absence of the obligation to take back for points of sale. In almost all deposit countries, a take-back obligation is part of the legislation and also in the Netherlands it was previously part of the Packaging Management Decree 2014. By removing the take-back obligation from the law, we now have to deal with large shops such as AH To Go, HEMA, Kruidvat and Action, eating establishments like McDonalds and La Place and theatres, cinemas and universities that do not pay the consumer a deposit when they want to return their bottle there. Therefore, oblige points of sale of bottles to also pay out deposit, with a possible exception for small retailers.

Another shortcoming is that not all plastic bottles have a deposit, but drinks with dairy and juices are excluded. It is a major improvement that the deposit system was recently opened to juices, but this is on a voluntary basis, which means that many juices without deposit can still come onto the market and what leads to lack of clarity for the consumer. Therefore, introduce a mandatory deposit on juices by including them in the deposit law.

Also, the deposit amount of 15 euro cents is relatively on the low side, making it a less strong incentive for consumers to return their bottles. Therefore, increase the minimum deposit amount to 25 euro cents.

* Explanatory note to Chart 2

In order to be able to compare the data of Rijkswaterstaat (number of plastic bottles in litter) and Zwerfinator (number of plastic bottles per kilometer), we have taken their monitoring results from the year 2017 of both datasets as a baseline measurement (base 100).