Angela Merkel and Mark Rutte opt for deposit return schemes, Belgium waits and sees

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

This opinion piece was also published last week by Knack, ‘The Netherlands and Germany opt for deposit return systems: contrast with Belgium is growing’

Mark Rutte's government decided last week that there will be a deposit on cans next year. For plastic bottles, this will already start within five months. Angela Merkel's government extended the German deposit system a week earlier to include all plastic bottles and cans, including those for juices, wine and dairy. The contrast with Belgium is therefore growing ever wider. In Belgium, there is only a deposit on some glass bottles. Besides, not a single supermarket or consumer complains about that. Thanks to the deposit, the glass beer bottle, our national pride, almost never ends up on the roadsides.

European race to deposit return systems

The Netherlands and Germany are joining a European race, in which over the past five years no fewer than 9 countries decided to introduce or expand a deposit system.

Last week, the Dutch State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management also proved that you can perfectly decide on a deposit system within the term of a single legislature. Deposits were not planned in the coalition agreement with which the coalition of VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie took office four years ago. But the pressure from society through the Deposit Alliance (Statiegeldalliantie) grew intense. And litter figures rose. So the Rutte III cabinet decided. By the way, this is not a particularly progressive or green coalition. It consists of two liberal parties, VVD and D66, and two Christian Democratic parties, CDA and ChristenUnie. Economically speaking, the CDA is clearly more liberal than its Flemish counterpart CD&V.

In Belgium, the waste mountain continues to grow

Brussels, Wallonia and the federal government have included a deposit system in their coalition agreements for this legislature. CD&V proposed deposits to the Flemish government in 2018. However, the Bourgeois government chose not to follow the Northern model of deposits and came up with an 'alternative': the Packaging Plan, which was a stopgap measure to prevent deposits with extra recycling targets and a tiny bit of extra litter policy.

The figures released in December in the OVAM report are dramatic. 22,641 tonnes of litter in 2019. The Flemish government had promised to reduce litter by 20% by 2022 compared to 2013. But 29.4 per cent more litter was measured in 2019 than in 2013. In June 2020, OVAM changed the reference year from 2013 to 2015. Because there was more litter in that year than in 2013, this waters down the target. But even if we use the modified reference year 2015, there is still an increase of 9.8%, while litter must have decreased by 20% by 2022. The new target is also completely unachievable without a deposit system. Decades of 'awareness campaigns' and brandishing higher fines yield no results. Bad governance. What is the Flemish government actually waiting for to simply draw the only logical conclusion from the rising litter figures, just like the Dutch government?

Netherlands-Belgium: 2-0

The contrast with German and Dutch political decisiveness is stark. In 2018, Rutte III established for small plastic bottles that a deposit system would be introduced regardless if businesses did not achieve a 70 per cent reduction of this packaging in litter. State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven had already sent the draft bills to the House of Representatives. This allowed the government to put the deposit decision into effect immediately in the event of poor monitoring results. And that happened, on 24 April 2020 for plastic bottles. Later, the same agreement was made for cans.

As a result, the cabinet also decided last week on deposits for cans. Mind you, the government had fallen on 15 January over the childcare benefits scandal. The COVID-19 figures were blood red. But the Rutte cabinet drew the conclusion from the litter figures and published the deposit law. A fine example of good governance. Plastic bottles and cans, two deposit laws: 2-0.

CD&V chairman Joachim Coens rightly states in Knack of 20 January that a deposit system would help us forward a great deal. A few hours after the Dutch deposit decision, he immediately called for following the Dutch example. "Deposit on cans a reality in the Netherlands. A good thing, hopefully we will follow quickly too. Litter is increasing sharply. Support is high, 158 municipalities joined the Deposit Alliance".

The supermarket lobby or the demand of 8 out of 10 Belgians

In the Netherlands, it was mainly the supermarkets that were still against deposits. The European federation of major beverage producers declared in September that they are now in favour of deposits. The supermarkets' arguments are not transparent. The packaging industry lobby clubs Comeos and Fost Plus claimed that deposits are "very costly", but the Flemish government has calculated that this is not the case at all

(Photo: Wikimedia Commons) This opinion piece was also published last week by Knack, ‘The Netherlands and Germany opt for deposit return systems: contrast with Belgium is growing’

Mark Rutte's government decided last week that there will be a deposit on cans next year. For plastic bottles, this will already start within five months. Angela Merkel's government extended the German deposit system a week earlier to include all plastic bottles and cans, including those for juices, wine and dairy. The contrast with Belgium is therefore growing ever wider. In Belgium, there is only a deposit on some glass bottles. Besides, not a single supermarket or consumer complains about that. Thanks to the deposit, the glass beer bottle, our national pride, almost never ends up on the roadsides.

European race to deposit return systems

The Netherlands and Germany are joining a European race, in which over the past five years no fewer than 9 countries decided to introduce or expand a deposit system.

Last week, the Dutch State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management also proved that you can perfectly decide on a deposit system within the term of a single legislature. Deposits were not planned in the coalition agreement with which the coalition of VVD, D66, CDA and ChristenUnie took office four years ago. But the pressure from society through the Deposit Alliance (Statiegeldalliantie) grew intense. And litter figures rose. So the Rutte III cabinet decided. By the way, this is not a particularly progressive or green coalition. It consists of two liberal parties, VVD and D66, and two Christian Democratic parties, CDA and ChristenUnie. Economically speaking, the CDA is clearly more liberal than its Flemish counterpart CD&V.

In Belgium, the waste mountain continues to grow

Brussels, Wallonia and the federal government have included a deposit system in their coalition agreements for this legislature. CD&V proposed deposits to the Flemish government in 2018. However, the Bourgeois government chose not to follow the Northern model of deposits and came up with an 'alternative': the Packaging Plan, which was a stopgap measure to prevent deposits with extra recycling targets and a tiny bit of extra litter policy.

The figures released in December in the OVAM report are dramatic. 22,641 tonnes of litter in 2019. The Flemish government had promised to reduce litter by 20% by 2022 compared to 2013. But 29.4 per cent more litter was measured in 2019 than in 2013. In June 2020, OVAM changed the reference year from 2013 to 2015. Because there was more litter in that year than in 2013, this waters down the target. But even if we use the modified reference year 2015, there is still an increase of 9.8%, while litter must have decreased by 20% by 2022. The new target is also completely unachievable without a deposit system. Decades of 'awareness campaigns' and brandishing higher fines yield no results. Bad governance. What is the Flemish government actually waiting for to simply draw the only logical conclusion from the rising litter figures, just like the Dutch government?

Netherlands-Belgium: 2-0

The contrast with German and Dutch political decisiveness is stark. In 2018, Rutte III established for small plastic bottles that a deposit system would be introduced regardless if businesses did not achieve a 70 per cent reduction of this packaging in litter. State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven had already sent the draft bills to the House of Representatives. This allowed the government to put the deposit decision into effect immediately in the event of poor monitoring results. And that happened, on 24 April 2020 for plastic bottles. Later, the same agreement was made for cans.

As a result, the cabinet also decided last week on deposits for cans. Mind you, the government had fallen on 15 January over the childcare benefits scandal. The COVID-19 figures were blood red. But the Rutte cabinet drew the conclusion from the litter figures and published the deposit law. A fine example of good governance. Plastic bottles and cans, two deposit laws: 2-0.

CD&V chairman Joachim Coens rightly states in Knack of 20 January that a deposit system would help us forward a great deal. He pleated immediately after the Dutch deposit decision to follow the Dutch example. "Deposit on cans a reality in the Netherlands. A good thing, hopefully we will follow quickly too. Litter is increasing sharply. Support is high, 158 municipalities joined the Deposit Alliance".

The supermarket lobby or the demand of 8 out of 10 Belgians

In the Netherlands, it was mainly the supermarkets that were still against deposits. The European federation of major beverage producers declared in September that they are now in favour of deposits. The supermarkets' arguments are not transparent. The packaging industry lobby clubs Comeos and Fost Plus claimed that deposits are "very costly", but the Flemish government has calculated that this is not the case at all and that it is rather a cost-neutral change, and municipalities obviously save money. They also "forget" to mention that they have already succeeded for decades in smoothly collecting beer bottles with deposits. So the "problems" will really not be as immense as they cry from the rooftops with a high sense of drama.

The Flemish government is faced with the question of what it finds more important. It has a choice between two options. Either it bows to the power of the supermarkets and Fost Plus and does not introduce a deposit system. Then the situation remains as it is: mopping the floor with the tap running for years. And spending more and more taxpayer money to clean up cans and bottles that will be back within a week.

Or the Flemish government follows the demand of 8 out of 10 Flemings, the farmers' organisations, the environmental organisations, Test Aankoop, Ecover, nearly 200 Flemish cities and municipalities, and the 1,115 partners of the Deposit Alliance. And writes deposits into the law. Then our streets will become cleaner, nature healthier and our economy more circular during this governing period. Just like in the Netherlands and Germany. So that Belgium no longer stands alone in Europe. With its beer bottle.