Deposit return scheme very popular in Belgium: 9 out of 10 Limburgers are in favour

9 out of 10 Belgian Limburgers want a deposit on cans and plastic bottles in Belgium quickly. That is what Het Belang van Limburg headlines today on its front page, based on a large-scale study of more than 6,000 respondents.

The Deposit Alliance (Statiegeldalliantie), of which Recycling Netwerk is a founding member, immediately responded this morning with a press release:

The Deposit Alliance writes: “The large number of respondents shows that the topic is very much alive, even in these corona times. The number of supporters of a deposit scheme is rising sharply, to 88 per cent. That is 11 percentage points more than the poll by Het Belang van Limburg three years ago. This is gradually making the deposit scheme the most popular environmental measure ever. We are also noticing the increasingly urgent demand for a deposit scheme in the strong increase in municipalities, organisations and companies joining us”

Due to a snowball effect of memberships, the Deposit Alliance already has 1,139 partners. These include heavyweights such as Ferm, Algemeen Boeren Syndicaat, Test Aankoop, Ecover and Limburg.net.

More than 2 in 3 Flemish municipalities are members of the alliance. There is also currently a lot of movement in French-speaking Belgium. Brussels youth started a petition that led to a hearing in the Brussels Parliament on 31 March. Among others, the Walloon cities and municipalities of Dinant, Ciney, Baelen, Olne, Thimister and Saint-Hubert have joined in recent weeks. In Hannut, Jalhay, Dison, Ans and Roeulx, municipal councils are debating the issue these days. Walloon volunteers also secured a hearing on deposits in the Walloon Parliament on 11 May through a petition. Both the Brussels and Walloon governments wrote deposits into their respective coalition agreements in 2019.

The latest Flemish litter figures are disastrous. The problem is therefore significant. The deposit system is not a theoretical concept, but has been working in daily practice in 40 countries for years with great success. Deposits reduce the presence of plastic and cans by 70 to 90 per cent, concludes the study by CE Delft commissioned by the Dutch government.

The Deposit Alliance emphasises: “Extra Flemish ‘studies’ or ‘interim evaluations’ are therefore a pure waste of time. Surely it cannot be that 3 interest groups Comeos (supermarkets), Fevia (food multinationals) and Fost Plus (their waste branch) can block this environmental measure, which 9 out of 10 people are asking for, any longer? The deposit solution can easily be copied from abroad, so that the government can respond to the almost unanimous demand of the people and more than 1,100 companies, organisations and municipalities”.

The great popularity of deposits in this poll therefore increases the pressure on Environment Ministers Céline Tellier (Wallonia; Ecolo), Alain Maron (Brussels; Ecolo) and Zuhal Demir (Flanders; N-VA) to come up with concrete decrees. The Deposit Alliance calls on the three regional environment ministers to quickly submit Deposit Decrees in their respective parliaments. In addition, they expect the federal government to make its coalition agreement concrete by incorporating a deposit scheme into the packaging levy.

In the Netherlands, great pressure from society led the Dutch Rutte III government to the decision that as of 1 July there will be a deposit on all plastic bottles (except dairy and juices). That is within 9 weeks. Next year, also on cans. The government of Angela Merkel (CDU) is extending the existing German deposit system for plastic and cans to alcoholic beverages, dairy and juices. Former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and top UN expert Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, among others, are urging Belgian governments to quickly do the same.

The Deposit Alliance unites the 1,139 highly diverse partners behind 1 simple request to the Dutch and Belgian governments: “Introduce deposits on cans and all plastic bottles quickly”. The alliance therefore appreciates the commitment of the chairman of the governing party CD&V, chairman Joachim Coens, to quickly follow the deposit decisions of the Netherlands. The Deposit Alliance concludes: “Netherlands, Yes We Did It! Belgium, Yes We Can!”

Articles from Het Belang van Limburg

9 out of 10 Limburgers are in favour of deposits

Extra info

List of all partners of the Deposit Alliance

List of municipalities and cities affiliated with the Deposit Alliance

Map with the affiliated municipalities

Press release of the Deposit Alliance at: https://statiegeldalliantie.org/2021/04/9-op-10-limburgers-is-voorstander-statiegeld-stilaan-de-populairste-milieumaatregel-ooit/

9 out of 10 Belgian Limburgers want a deposit on cans and plastic bottles in Belgium quickly. That is what Het Belang van Limburg headlines today on its front page, based on a large-scale study of more than 6,000 respondents.

The Deposit Alliance, of which Recycling Netwerk is a founding member, immediately responded this morning with a press release:

The Deposit Alliance writes: “The large number of respondents shows that the topic is very much alive, even in these corona times. The number of supporters of a deposit scheme is rising sharply, to 88 per cent. That is 11 percentage points more than the poll by Het Belang van Limburg three years ago. This is gradually making the deposit scheme the most popular environmental measure ever. We are also noticing the increasingly urgent demand for a deposit scheme in the strong increase in municipalities, organisations and companies joining us”

Due to a snowball effect of memberships, the Deposit Alliance already has 1,139 partners. These include heavyweights such as Ferm, Algemeen Boeren Syndicaat, Test Aankoop, Ecover and Limburg.net.

More than 2 in 3 Flemish municipalities are members of the alliance. There is also currently a lot of movement in French-speaking Belgium. Brussels youth started a petition that led to a hearing in the Brussels Parliament on 31 March. Among others, the Walloon cities and municipalities of Dinant, Ciney, Baelen, Olne, Thimister and Saint-Hubert have joined in recent weeks. In Hannut, Jalhay, Dison, Ans and Roeulx, municipal councils are debating the issue these days. Walloon volunteers also secured a hearing on deposits in the Walloon Parliament on 11 May through a petition. Both the Brussels and Walloon governments wrote deposits into their respective coalition agreements in 2019.

The latest Flemish litter figures are disastrous. The problem is therefore significant. The deposit system is not a theoretical concept, but has been working in daily practice in 40 countries for years with great success. Deposits reduce the presence of plastic and cans by 70 to 90 per cent, concludes the study by CE Delft commissioned by the Dutch government.

The Deposit Alliance emphasises: “Extra Flemish ‘studies’ or ‘interim evaluations’ are therefore a pure waste of time. Surely it cannot be that 3 interest groups Comeos (supermarkets), Fevia (food multinationals) and Fost Plus (their waste branch) can block this environmental measure, which 9 out of 10 people are asking for, any longer? The deposit solution can easily be copied from abroad, so that the government can respond to the almost unanimous demand of the people and more than 1,100 companies, organisations and municipalities”.

The great popularity of deposits in this poll therefore increases the pressure on Environment Ministers Céline Tellier (Wallonia; Ecolo), Alain Maron (Brussels; Ecolo) and Zuhal Demir (Flanders; N-VA) to come up with concrete decrees. The Deposit Alliance calls on the three regional environment ministers to quickly submit Deposit Decrees in their respective parliaments. In addition, they expect the federal government to make its coalition agreement concrete by incorporating a deposit scheme into the packaging levy.

In the Netherlands, great pressure from society led the Dutch Rutte III government to the decision that as of 1 July there will be a deposit on all plastic bottles (except dairy and juices). That is within 9 weeks. Next year, also on cans. The government of Angela Merkel (CDU) is extending the existing German deposit system for plastic and cans to alcoholic beverages, dairy and juices. Former Belgian Prime Minister Yves Leterme and top UN expert Jean-Pascal Van Ypersele, among others, are urging Belgian governments to quickly do the same.

The Deposit Alliance unites the 1,139 highly diverse partners behind 1 simple request to the Dutch and Belgian governments: “Introduce deposits on cans and all plastic bottles quickly”. The alliance therefore appreciates the commitment of the chairman of the governing party CD&V, chairman Joachim Coens, to quickly follow the deposit decisions of the Netherlands. The Deposit Alliance concludes: “Netherlands, Yes We Did It! Belgium, Yes We Can!”

Articles from Het Belang van Limburg

9 out of 10 Limburgers are in favour of deposits

Extra info List of all partners of the Deposit Alliance List of municipalities and cities affiliated with the Deposit Alliance Map with the affiliated municipalities

Press release of the Deposit Alliance at: https://statiegeldalliantie.org/2021/04/9-op-10-limburgers-is-voorstander-statiegeld-stilaan-de-populairste-milieumaatregel-ooit/