Packaging industry shows bad faith

The packaging industry is not proposing any additional or new measures to tackle litter and plastic soup, according to reporting in De Morgen on Wednesday.

"The beverage producers and supermarkets are therefore showing no goodwill to take responsibility for a clean Flanders. It will then depend on the Flemish government to force the industry to do so," environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk Benelux said on Wednesday morning in response to the reporting in De Morgen about the industry's waste plan.

"It is therefore now up to the Flemish government to come up with a decision that effectively removes the most common types of products from litter. For the largest fraction of litter, plastic bottles and cans which make up 43% of litter, that is of course a deposit system. Only a deposit system is effective in keeping bottles and cans out of litter, as practice in Scandinavia and Germany shows. For plastic bags, that is a ban. For the remaining fractions (cigarette butts, chewing gum, single-use coffee cups and other litter), a specific system will also have to be introduced to make 100% producer responsibility a reality," says Recycling Netwerk director Rob Buurman.

Producers have had a very long time, decades, to come up with solutions for litter themselves. They refuse to do so because apparently a few extra percent of net profit is considered more important than sustainability. The years of delay that the industry wants to grant itself is shocking at a time when the equivalent of a truckload of plastic waste ends up in the sea every minute.

"It is then up to the Flemish and other governments to impose litter reduction on the industry, with sharp reduction targets above 90%. Otherwise, the Flemish taxpayer will continue to foot the bill of 155 million euros per year and we will continue to fall short of what the European Commission asks," Recycling Netwerk concludes.

Image: Gert Verbelen (@destandaard on Twitter)