Almost 200 Dutch municipalities are now asking The Hague to expand the deposit return scheme

Nearly 200 Dutch municipalities are asking the Rutte cabinet and the House of Representatives, through the Deposit Alliance (Statiegeldalliantie), to extend deposits to cans and small plastic bottles. They have high expectations for the General Consultation on deposit return schemes in the House of Representatives, which will take place on 15 March.

The municipalities are joining the Deposit Alliance in increasingly large numbers. The alliance saw the number of member municipalities more than double in a single month, to nearly 200. At the beginning of February, 72 Dutch municipalities were partners in the Deposit Alliance. Multiple new applications are received daily.

According to Math Oehlen, waste policy officer in the municipality of Weert, the two hundred Dutch municipalities together have more than eleven million inhabitants. Last November, Weert was the first municipality to join the Deposit Alliance.

Last week, the Dutch Agricultural and Horticultural Association (LTO Nederland) joined the Deposit Alliance. LTO represents nearly 50,000 agricultural entrepreneurs and champions their economic and social position.

Ekoplaza, a Dutch organic supermarket chain with 75 branches in the Netherlands, had already joined the alliance previously. Dozens of environmental organisations are also partners. Eight Water Boards and the province of North Brabant have also joined the alliance.

In total, more than 400 local governments, businesses, and organisations are now affiliated with the Deposit Alliance. This unprecedented movement, highly diverse and spanning the Dutch-Belgian border, shows that litter is a major concern for many businesses, organisations, municipalities, water boards, and provinces.

They judge that permanent clean-up is like 'mopping with the tap running', and that a structural solution must finally be achieved through deposit systems. The demand from all these partners to the government is the same: "Introduce a deposit on all plastic bottles and cans in 2018." The alliance thus shows that the broad support is growing even stronger.

The pressure on the Rutte cabinet and members of the House of Representatives to decide to extend the deposit scheme is therefore constantly increasing. On 15 March, the House of Representatives will hold a General Consultation on deposit schemes. The Deposit Alliance and its partners are asking the members of the House of Representatives to vote in favour of extending deposits to cans and small plastic bottles.

The list of new Dutch municipalities that joined the alliance in February can be found here: https://statiegeldalliantie.org/2018/03/bijna-200-gemeenten-vragen-den-haag-nu-statiegeld-uit-te-breiden/