Parliamentary motion to quickly tackle 'low-hanging fruit' in plastic packaging

On Tuesday 28 June 2022, Member of Parliament Kauthar Bouchallikh (GroenLinks) is bringing a motion to a vote in the House of Representatives to make a start on reducing unnecessary plastic use this year. State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management Vivianne Heijnen has advised against this motion because implementation would not be feasible within this calendar year. A quick tentative inventory by Recycling Netwerk Benelux (RNB) shows that this is actually not too bad. According to PlasticsEurope, the trade association for the plastic industry, approximately 40% of annual plastic use goes to packaging. Most products are sold packaged, and that packaging is quite often made of plastic. This applies to all types of products, and certainly to food products, the most sold products in supermarkets. The motion requests the government to 'conduct a broad inventory into which plastic products binding policy for prevention or reuse can be realised still within this calendar year'. A quick inventory of unnecessary packaging is possible. RNB has taken a list of fresh vegetables from the Nutrition Centre website. Based on our own experiences, we indicate for each vegetable whether it is currently sold packaged in plastic in the supermarket or at the market or at a greengrocer (see the table below). Many unprocessed fresh vegetables in supermarkets are regularly wrapped in plastic. Whilst at the market or at the greengrocer they are usually sold unpackaged. This indicates that plastic packaging is in any case not necessary to guarantee the quality of these unprocessed fresh vegetables. Many fresh vegetables that lie on the shelves unprocessed are also offered pre-cut or pre-peeled. These pre-processed fresh vegetables are almost always packaged in sealed plastic bags. This is said to prevent the pre-processed fresh vegetables from drying out, extend their shelf life, and thus combat food waste. At least, that is the argument usually used for these sealed packages. The role of plastic packaging in preventing food waste is up for debate. The final word on this has certainly not been said yet, but in recent years there has been more and more resistance against the claimed shelf-life extension of fresh pre-processed vegetables in sealed plastic bags. Recent research by the English environmental organisation WRAP shows that fresh vegetables continue to breathe. Even if they are pre-processed. As a result, moisture accumulates in the sealed plastic packaging. This causes fresh vegetables to spoil faster. This actually encourages food waste. As a consumer, you are also stuck with the pre-packaged quantity in sealed bags. If this quantity is more than is needed for a dish, which is quickly the case for the growing group of single people, then the leftover fresh vegetables are often eventually thrown away. Food waste indeed. It would be better to offer such pre-processed fresh vegetables loose, as is already the case in some greengrocers. Consumers can then take exactly as much as they need, preferably in reusable bags that consumers bring themselves. Unpackaged fresh and loosely offered vegetables, processed or unprocessed, can be misted to prevent drying out if necessary. Some supermarkets already have this facility, but a simple plant spray also does the trick. A broad inventory for other food products is also not complicated. For fruit, a similar type of analysis is obvious as for fresh vegetables. Plastic packaging is usually not necessary. Consumers can take it loose or put it in their own reusable bags. Many other food products such as rice and grains, dry pasta, and nuts could also be offered loose. Dispensing systems already exist for this, for which consumers then bring their own packaging. These dispensing systems are already used in packaging-free shops, but some supermarkets are also experimenting with this. Individual biscuits in plastic, held together in plastic, and a cardboard box around them. Small plastic bags of crisps in large plastic bags of crisps. The examples of food products in unnecessary plastic are legion. The broad inventory proposed by the motion could start with food products. For example, for the identified unprocessed fresh vegetables, binding policy can quickly be deployed to prevent unnecessary plastic packaging. The pre-processed vegetables will probably need a bit more time. Also a lot of plastic for other products. Zero Waste Europe recently mapped the quantities of plastic packaging for some twenty products. The internet is teeming with examples of unnecessary plastic use. Unnecessary plastic packaging of food products indeed predominates, but also, for example, the small USB stick or other small objects

On Tuesday 28 June 2022, Member of Parliament Kauthar Bouchallikh (GroenLinks) is bringing a motion to a vote in the House of Representatives to make a start on reducing unnecessary plastic use this year. State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management Vivianne Heijnen has advised against this motion because implementation would not be feasible within this calendar year. A quick tentative inventory by Recycling Netwerk Benelux (RNB) shows that this is actually not too bad.

According to PlasticsEurope, the trade association for the plastic industry, approximately 40% of annual plastic use goes to packaging. Most products are sold packaged, and that packaging is quite often made of plastic. This applies to all types of products, and certainly to food products, the most sold products in supermarkets.

The motion requests the government to 'conduct a broad inventory into which plastic products binding policy for prevention or reuse can be realised still within this calendar year'.

A quick inventory of unnecessary packaging is possible

RNB has taken a list of fresh vegetables from the Nutrition Centre website. Based on our own experiences, we indicate for each vegetable whether it is currently sold packaged in plastic in the supermarket or at the market or at a greengrocer (see the table below).

Many unprocessed fresh vegetables in supermarkets are regularly wrapped in plastic. Whilst at the market or at the greengrocer they are usually sold unpackaged. This indicates that plastic packaging is in any case not necessary to guarantee the quality of these unprocessed fresh vegetables.

Many fresh vegetables that lie on the shelves unprocessed are also offered pre-cut or pre-peeled. These pre-processed fresh vegetables are almost always packaged in sealed plastic bags. This is said to prevent the pre-processed fresh vegetables from drying out, extend their shelf life, and thus combat food waste. At least, that is the argument usually used for these sealed packages.

The role of plastic packaging in preventing food waste is up for debate

The final word on this has certainly not been said yet, but in recent years there has been more and more resistance against the claimed shelf-life extension of fresh pre-processed vegetables in sealed plastic bags. Recent research by the English environmental organisation WRAP shows that fresh vegetables continue to breathe. Even if they are pre-processed. As a result, moisture accumulates in the sealed plastic packaging. This causes fresh vegetables to spoil faster. This actually encourages food waste.

As a consumer, you are also stuck with the pre-packaged quantity in sealed bags. If this quantity is more than is needed for a dish, which is quickly the case for the growing group of single people, then the leftover fresh vegetables are often eventually thrown away. Food waste indeed.

It would be better to offer such pre-processed fresh vegetables loose, as is already the case in some greengrocers. Consumers can then take exactly as much as they need, preferably in reusable bags that consumers bring themselves.

Unpackaged fresh and loosely offered vegetables, processed or unprocessed, can be misted to prevent drying out if necessary. Some supermarkets already have this facility, but a simple plant spray also does the trick.

A broad inventory for other food products is also not complicated

For fruit, a similar type of analysis is obvious as for fresh vegetables. Plastic packaging is usually not necessary. Consumers can take it loose or put it in their own reusable bags.

Many other food products such as rice and grains, dry pasta, and nuts could also be offered loose. Dispensing systems already exist for this, for which consumers then bring their own packaging. These dispensing systems are already used in packaging-free shops, but some supermarkets are also experimenting with this.

Individual biscuits in plastic, held together in plastic, and a cardboard box around them. Small plastic bags of crisps in large plastic bags of crisps. The examples of food products in unnecessary plastic are legion.

The broad inventory proposed by the motion could start with food products. For example, for the identified unprocessed fresh vegetables, binding policy can quickly be deployed to prevent unnecessary plastic packaging. The pre-processed vegetables will probably need a bit more time.

Also a lot of plastic for other products

Zero Waste Europe recently mapped the quantities of plastic packaging for some twenty products. The internet is teeming with examples of unnecessary plastic use. Unnecessary plastic packaging of food products indeed predominates, but also, for example, the small USB stick or other small objects are sold in huge plastic packaging.

Plastic wraps around magazines and advertisements in the letterbox are another example of 1.5 million kilos of unnecessary plastic packaging that enter Dutch front doors every year. Often there are excellent alternatives to avoid or greatly reduce plastic use. For example, magazines or advertisements can easily be held together in a paper wrapper or with an address label in the case of magazines or bound advertisements. In other countries, such as Belgium, such paper wrappers or address labels are common. So why not in the Netherlands?

So there is a lot of low-hanging 'packaging fruit' where binding policy can curb plastic use in the short term.

In addition to packaging, there are also other plastic products that are not necessary. Initiated by the European Single-Use Plastics Directive, and now implemented in policy by the Netherlands, plastic cotton buds, straws and drinking cups, for example, are no longer permitted. An additional inventory of packaging can be done quickly, but unnecessary plastic in other products can also be mapped out. That may take a bit more time.

Slow and fast possibilities for binding policy

Binding policy can be deployed through legislation. Introducing new legislation does indeed take quite some time because a number of procedural steps must be completed. However, binding policy can also be introduced via an order in council or via a ministerial regulation. That is simpler and faster.

A legal basis is required for both an order in council and a ministerial regulation. For plastic packaging, this legal basis is provided for in the Packaging Management Decree 2014. Indeed, the decree states, among other things, that packaging must be designed and manufactured in such a way that reuse is possible, and that the weight of packaging is as low as possible.

In recent years, the Netherlands has implemented the European Single-Use Plastics Directive. With the implementation of this directive, plastic in products such as cotton buds, straws and drinking cups is also no longer permitted in the Netherlands. It is now key to push ahead with reducing Dutch plastic use. Not only to put a stop to increasing plastic pollution. Plastics are made from oil and gas, and their supply is under pressure precisely because of the war in Ukraine.

For a limited number of products, such as disposable plastic cups and food containers, policy has already been deployed to reduce plastic use. However, the above analysis shows that numerous food products for which binding policy is also quickly possible are not yet being addressed. It would be a shame to wait with this until after the deployed policy yields results. That only leads to unnecessary delay.

Motion aligns with policy intention of government and business community

In the short term, binding policy to reduce unnecessary plastic use is therefore very well possible. Such a policy aligns with the central government's desire to let the Netherlands play a pioneering role within Europe in the field of circular economy policy.

The business community has also promised in the so-called Plastic Pact to have reduced plastic use by 20% by 2025 compared to 2017.

Moreover, the Netherlands would not be the first to ban unnecessary plastic. A ban on plastic packaging of fresh fruit and vegetables already came into force in France on 1 January 2022 with the Law against waste and for the circular economy. In Luxembourg, the ban takes effect on 1 July with an amendment to the Packaging and Packaging Waste Act (document 7656). When will the Netherlands follow to avoid unnecessary plastic for these and other obvious products?

The table below shows for unprocessed fresh vegetables (columns 2-4) and for processed fresh vegetables (columns 5-7) whether these vegetables are offered unpackaged (green) or packaged in plastic (red) in supermarkets (columns 2 and 5) and at the market or in greengrocers (columns 3 and 6). If vegetables are offered unpackaged at the market or in greengrocers, then in principle this is also possible in supermarkets. If necessary, consumers can then bring their own reusable vegetable bag or similar. This table was created on an afternoon based on the authors' own shopping experiences. The results must therefore be regarded as tentative. However, it shows that such an evaluation can be done quickly, even if it is done more thoroughly in interaction with supermarkets.