We are moving further and further away from a clean Flanders

Opinion published in Knack (24/10/2025) OVAM's Litter Monitoring for 2024 is clear: Flanders is not getting any cleaner. Despite a clear goal to reduce litter by 20% between 2023 and 2030 (6,969 tonnes compared to a target of 5,297 tonnes by 2030), litter has increased by 5.3% in just one year. This target comes from the new Local Materials Plan 2023-2030 and replaces the original target to reduce litter by 20% between 2015 and 2023. A goal that was not achieved and was simply swept under the carpet. Despite former minister Zuhal Demir promising in 2022 that a deposit return scheme would be introduced due to the poor results regarding litter, that too never materialised. A long history of empty promises and missed targets indeed. There is not only an increase observed in litter. Street litter bins are also overflowing with +26.4% more on-the-go waste, showing how significant the waste problem remains. The litter compensation is therefore essential to support the hard work of local authorities. Meanwhile, however, the industry continues to lobby to further undermine this compensation. According to them, the levy is too high. But this fee was precisely calculated based on the actual costs incurred by local authorities. And their lobby successfully pushed this back. This contribution does not even cover the costs of litter for Flemish local authorities, and thus for the taxpayer. Moreover, the packaging industry's foot-dragging alone has saved it 465 million euros. The contribution to local authorities, established by all three regional governments last July, must eventually be paid in 2025, after two years of lost compensation. Ostrich politics Instead of working on concrete solutions, the industry prefers to lower and postpone the litter fee. Perhaps they are even trying to get the 2025 contribution out of sight? At the same time, they are also trying to gain advantages in other areas, for example by asking for a reduction in the federal packaging levy. That is good for the industry's wallet, but not for cleaner streets, as this federal levy acts as an incentive for reusable packaging. The packaging industry would do better to work on introducing deposits on plastic bottles and cans, as the new litter cooperation agreement provides for a 25% reduction in the litter levy (meaning 25.5 million euros for the packaging industry) after the first full year of deposits, and a 5% reduction per year for a further six years. But it is not just the industry that continues to resist. The Flemish government is also postponing the introduction of deposits, even though current Environment Minister Jo Brouns says it is “inevitable”. Before this, they also took plenty of time to approve the litter levy. Meanwhile, Minister Brouns congratulates himself on the increased number of municipal administrative fines (GAS-boetes) imposed during the Enforcement Week, but these fines are unfortunately not a long-term solution to litter. The litter issue demands radical measures The increased municipal administrative fines, prevention initiatives, and annual clean-up campaigns are clearly not effective enough to structurally solve the litter problem and bring Flanders closer to its goal. We therefore ask Flemish policy makers to take responsibility and: Introduce the litter compensation without further delay at the level set in July this year, starting in 2025; Introduce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans to reduce the amount of litter; Emphasise prevention and encourage reusable packaging through local taxes on single-use packaging, such as those levied in certain cities, for example Tübingen; Photo credit: Saskia Risseuw Related tags More on this topic

Opinion published in Knack (24/10/2025)

OVAM's Litter Monitoring for 2024 is clear: Flanders is not getting any cleaner. Despite a clear goal to reduce litter by 20% between 2023 and 2030 (6,969 tonnes compared to a target of 5,297 tonnes by 2030), litter has increased by 5.3% in just one year. This target comes from the new Local Materials Plan 2023-2030 and replaces the original target to reduce litter by 20% between 2015 and 2023. A goal that was not achieved and was simply swept under the carpet. Despite former minister Zuhal Demir promising in 2022 that a deposit return scheme would be introduced due to the poor results regarding litter, that too never materialised. A long history of empty promises and missed targets indeed.

There is not only an increase observed in litter. Street litter bins are also overflowing with +26.4% more on-the-go waste, showing how significant the waste problem remains. The litter compensation is therefore essential to support the hard work of local authorities.

Meanwhile, however, the industry continues to lobby to further undermine this compensation. According to them, the levy is too high. But this fee was precisely calculated based on the actual costs incurred by local authorities. And their lobby successfully pushed this back. This contribution does not even cover the costs of litter for Flemish local authorities, and thus for the taxpayer. Moreover, the packaging industry's foot-dragging alone has saved it 465 million euros.

The contribution to local authorities, established by all three regional governments last July, must eventually be paid in 2025, after two years of lost compensation.

Ostrich politics

Instead of working on concrete solutions, the industry prefers to lower and postpone the litter fee. Perhaps they are even trying to get the 2025 contribution out of sight?

At the same time, they are also trying to gain advantages in other areas, for example by asking for a reduction in the federal packaging levy. That is good for the industry's wallet, but not for cleaner streets, as this federal levy acts as an incentive for reusable packaging.

The packaging industry would do better to work on introducing deposits on plastic bottles and cans, as the new litter cooperation agreement provides for a 25% reduction in the litter levy (meaning 25.5 million euros for the packaging industry) after the first full year of deposits, and a 5% reduction per year for a further six years.

But it is not just the industry that continues to resist. The Flemish government is also postponing the introduction of deposits, even though current Environment Minister Jo Brouns says it is “inevitable”. Before this, they also took plenty of time to approve the litter levy. Meanwhile, Minister Brouns congratulates himself on the increased number of municipal administrative fines (GAS-boetes) imposed during the Enforcement Week, but these fines are unfortunately not a long-term solution to litter.

The litter issue demands radical measures

The increased municipal administrative fines, prevention initiatives, and annual clean-up campaigns are clearly not effective enough to structurally solve the litter problem and bring Flanders closer to its goal. We therefore ask Flemish policy makers to take responsibility and:

Introduce the litter compensation without further delay at the level set in July this year, starting in 2025;

Introduce a deposit return scheme for plastic bottles and cans to reduce the amount of litter;

Emphasise prevention and encourage reusable packaging through local taxes on single-use packaging, such as those levied in certain cities, for example Tübingen;