Number of cans in litter rises Deposit on cans inevitable, now time to push through

That there will highly likely be a deposit on beverage cans is the logical consequence of the latest monitoring report by Rijkswaterstaat. This shows that in the first half of this year, there were 19 per cent more cans in nature than in the 2016/2017 reference period.

"It is a pipe dream that the companies involved could still reverse this rising trend into the 70 to 90 per cent reduction requested by the government. We therefore ask that the cabinet brings forward its decision moment so that it can make the final decision on a deposit schema for cans before the end of this governing period," says director Rob Buurman of Recycling Netwerk.

Precedent

Indeed, there is a precedent for bringing forward the decision moment. When in the autumn of 2019 it became clear that the number of plastic bottles in the environment was not falling as agreed, but rising, State Secretary Stientje van Veldhoven brought forward the decision moment on the introduction of a deposit on small plastic bottles to the spring of 2020. In April 2020, the government therefore decided to introduce a deposit on small plastic bottles, starting on 1 July 2021. A significant part of the business community now also wants clarity about cans quickly in order to have certainty for the necessary investments.

The political will to introduce a deposit on cans has also increased strongly in recent years. With this draft legislation, the State Secretary is responding to the two motions, by members Paternotte et al. and Dik-Faber et al., on a deposit on cans which were passed by the House of Representatives in October 2019.

Recommendations

However, we do make three remarks on the text of the draft decree. First of all, we advise the government to also immediately include pouch packaging in the decree, as these very often end up in litter.

Secondly, in both her letter and the draft decree, the State Secretary speaks of a performance obligation of 90% recycling of cans for the business community to prevent a deposit on cans. In her earlier letter to parliament with the Decree introducing a deposit on small plastic bottles and the implementation of motions on cans of 24 April 2020, however, she spoke of a performance obligation of 90% separate collection, which is stronger.

Finally, the question is whether the 90% separate collection target laid down by law in the draft decree will be achieved with a deposit amount of € 0.15 per can. Research by CE Delft shows that with a deposit amount of € 0.15 per can, a return rate of approximately 88% is expected. We therefore advise the government to determine a minimum amount that guarantees the 90% goal.

Decree on small plastic bottles already a success

The cabinet's decision in late April to introduce a deposit on small plastic bottles starting in July 2021 has, by the way, already proven to be a success. Less than five months later, Coca-Cola Netherlands already declared that their bottles will soon consist entirely of recycled plastics. After Norway, the Netherlands is the second country worldwide where the multinational beverage producer is taking this step. In justifying this step, Coca-Cola explicitly referred to the deposit decree of the Rutte III Cabinet. The sustainability drive attracted the attention of Forbes and the Financial Times, among others.

Business community also asks for a deposit on cans

A rapid introduction of a deposit on cans is also a good step towards sustainability because it allows more cans to be recycled. Recycling Aluminium Verpakkingen Nederland already indicated that they are in favour of having the deposit on cans start even earlier than 2022. And water producer Spadel Netherlands also called for a deposit to be decided for cans as well.

In the Explanatory Note to the draft decree, we read, moreover, that the revenues are higher than the costs for the business community when introducing a deposit on cans. Even for the companies involved, there is no reason to wait any longer. And the litter clean-up costs for municipalities could fall sharply, by up to 50 million euros. Added to this is a saving of 1.5 to 6 million euros on emptying public waste bins. The government also expects a CO2 emission reduction of 23 Kton thanks to a deposit on cans.

“The sooner it gets here, the better. We call on the government and the House of Representatives to make a final decision to introduce a deposit on cans during this governing period. We ask the Dutch business community to support the politicians in this," concludes environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk.