Deposit Return Alliance calls on Belgian governments to follow Dutch deposit system

On July 1st, a deposit on small plastic bottles will start in the Netherlands. Yesterday, a cheerful Dutch State Secretary, Stientje van Veldhoven (D66), together with the Deposit Alliance (Statiegeldalliantie), gave the starting signal on the beach of Scheveningen.

In Antwerp, CD&V chairman Joachim Coens, the General Farmers' Syndicate ABS, Groen chairwoman Meyrem Almaci, manager Tom Domen of the company Ecover, the Brussels kayakers of Canal it Up, the women's organisation Ferm, Bond Beter Leefmilieu, and Régine Florent asked the Flemish, Brussels, and Walloon governments to follow the example of the Netherlands.

"From now on, the Dutch will have a more beautiful and cleaner living environment, thanks to the deposit that starts today on plastic bottles and next year on cans. Pollution and municipal costs will drop significantly. The risks to animals will become smaller. This is therefore a major victory for everyone who fought for this." Recycling Netwerk Benelux took the initiative to establish the Deposit Alliance in 2017. Since then, more than 1,100 partners have been campaigning for deposit systems in both Belgium and the Netherlands, under the banner "Deposit, Yes We Can".

The State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management, Stientje van Veldhoven, decided on deposits for bottles in April 2020 and deposits for cans in February 2021. The deposit on cans will take effect on 31 December 2022.

"The positive impact on the Dutch living environment will be historic," says director Rob Buurman of Recycling Netwerk Benelux: "Currently, around 200 million bottles and cans end up in the environment every year. So, every day 4 garbage trucks full of bottles and 5 garbage trucks full of cans in nature. A deposit reduces the number of bottles and cans in the environment by 70 to 90 percent. When the second phase with cans also starts, Dutch cows will also run less risk of injury from pieces of cans." In Germany today, cans make up only 0.03 per cent of litter. The German government decided on 20 January to expand the German deposit system to include beverage packaging for juices, wine, and dairy.

The Deposit Alliance has consisted of Dutch and Belgian members since its inception. Now that deposits on bottles and cans have been decided by politicians in the Netherlands, and society is welcoming the measure with enthusiasm, pressure on the Belgian environment ministers (Zuhal Demir (N-VA) in Flanders, Alain Maron (Ecolo) in Brussels, and Céline Tellier (Ecolo) in Wallonia) is logically increasing. After all, the waste mountain has been growing strongly in recent years, according to the latest counts by Ovam.

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