Plastic in cans, the hidden polluter

This discovery strengthened the call for cans to be included in the deposit scheme, and led to a parliamentary motion to investigate this plastic pollution caused by cans.

Plastic soup as a policy priority

Minister for the Environment Stientje van Veldhoven has made the fight against plastic soup a policy priority. During the AO Circular Economy on 11 April 2019, she stated that "through the environment, that plastic eventually ends up everywhere, and even has a relationship with our own health". This made the urgency to tackle plastic bottles first greater for her than the urgency for cans. And that is why she excluded cans from the deposit legislation.

When we demonstrated through the experiment that there is also plastic in cans, the State Secretary responded that the amount of plastic in cans is 'negligible compared to plastic bottles'. She did, however, address the request from the House of Representatives to investigate it.

Quantity of cans in nature

In the Netherlands alone, 1.58 billion cans were sold last year. That is 13.3 percent more than two years ago.

A report by KPlusV from 2015 showed that approximately 98 to 156 million cans end up in litter annually.

Cans made up 62.7 percent of the number of beverage packages in litter in 2019. Their share is growing: over the past year, the number of littered cans rose on average from 22.5 to 24.3 pieces per kilometre according to measurements by Dirk Groot, who investigated 1,000 kilometres for littered beverage packaging.

During the World Clean Up Day Netherlands 2018, cans were number two of the ten most frequently found items.

Potential impact of plastic in cans

With every can that ends up in litter, there is a potential source of plastic pollution. The can weathers due to rain and wind, after which the thin layer of plastic is released over time. The damage is caused by the number of pieces or particles of plastic (microplastics) that eventually end up in the environment.

But how much plastic is actually in such a drink can? The surface area of the plastic in cans is easy to calculate. The surface area of the plastic layer in 1 can is 0.0301 m2 (for the calculation, see the appendix at the bottom). One hundred 33cl cans represent approximately 3 square metres of thin plastic. The total surface area of the plastic in the 98-156 million cans in litter is therefore 2.9 to 4.7 million square metres. This means that every year in the Netherlands, through drink cans, at the very least 580 football fields of thin plastic end up in the environment, and in the worst-case scenario, enough plastic to completely cover the island of Nukunonu.

It concerns a limited amount of plastic per can. But because cans end up in the environment in large numbers, even more so than plastic bottles, we believe it is important to point out this hidden polluter, says environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk. Lawyers refer to such damage as 'scatter damage': in each individual case it involves limited damage, but because it occurs frequently, it is indeed a problem.

Deposit process

The fact that there is also plastic in cans is therefore relevant to the deposit discussion. In 2018, cans were kept out of the deposit process because of the focus on the plastic soup. But with the knowledge that there is also plastic in the cans, and that those cans frequently end up in the environment, it is immediately clear that they must be included in the fight against plastic soup.

That was also the opinion of the submitters of a motion in the House of Representatives. The motion by members Dik-Faber, Van Eijs and Von Martels "requests the government, based on data from the ongoing study (the count), to map the amount of plastic in the environment as a result of cans in litter and to inform the House of this".

In response to that motion in the House of Representatives, State Secretary van Veldhoven stated on 3 July 2019: "We have all seen the reports about the cans and I think, short and simple, we all want to know how big that problem really is. We need to map that. The motion submitted by Ms Dik-Faber on this, motion no. 237, is about this. It requests the government to map the amount of plastic in the environment as a result of cans in litter, based on data from the ongoing study, and to inform the House. I think we all have an interest in that".

With the calculation in this article, we provide an indication of the amount of plastic that ends up in the environment along with the cans.

The many problems with cans

Drink cans that end up in the environment are a problem in several ways. It is a major annoyance for people. They increase litter, which bothers everyone. They also cause the costs of cleanup services to rise.

If cans end up in animal feed during mowing, they cause

This discovery strengthened the call for cans to be included in the deposit scheme, and led to a parliamentary motion to investigate this plastic pollution caused by cans.

Plastic soup as a policy priority

Minister for the Environment Stientje van Veldhoven has made the fight against plastic soup a policy priority. During the AO Circular Economy on 11 April 2019, she stated that "through the environment, that plastic eventually ends up everywhere, and even has a relationship with our own health". This made the urgency to tackle plastic bottles first greater for her than the urgency for cans. And that is why she excluded cans from the deposit legislation.

When we demonstrated through the experiment that there is also plastic in cans, the State Secretary responded that the amount of plastic in cans is 'negligible compared to plastic bottles'. She did, however, address the request from the House of Representatives to investigate it.

Quantity of cans in nature

In the Netherlands alone, 1.58 billion cans were sold last year. That is 13.3 percent more than two years ago.

A report by KPlusV from 2015 showed that approximately 98 to 156 million cans end up in litter annually.

Cans made up 62.7 percent of the number of beverage packages in litter in 2019. Their share is growing: over the past year, the number of littered cans rose on average from 22.5 to 24.3 pieces per kilometre according to measurements by Dirk Groot, who investigated 1,000 kilometres for littered beverage packaging.

During the World Clean Up Day Netherlands 2018, cans were number two of the ten most frequently found items.

Potential impact of plastic in cans

With every can that ends up in litter, there is a potential source of plastic pollution. The can weathers due to rain and wind, after which the thin layer of plastic is released over time. The damage is caused by the number of pieces or particles of plastic (microplastics) that eventually end up in the environment.

But how much plastic is actually in such a drink can? The surface area of the plastic in cans is easy to calculate. The surface area of the plastic layer in 1 can is 0.0301 m2 (for the calculation, see the appendix at the bottom). One hundred 33cl cans represent approximately 3 square metres of thin plastic. The total surface area of the plastic in the 98-156 million cans in litter is therefore 2.9 to 4.7 million square metres. This means that every year in the Netherlands, through drink cans, at the very least 580 football fields of thin plastic end up in the environment, and in the worst-case scenario, enough plastic to completely cover the island of Nukunonu.

It concerns a limited amount of plastic per can. But because cans end up in the environment in large numbers, even more so than plastic bottles, we believe it is important to point out this hidden polluter, says environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk. Lawyers refer to such damage as 'scatter damage': in each individual case it involves limited damage, but because it occurs frequently, it is indeed a problem.

Deposit process

The fact that there is also plastic in cans is therefore relevant to the deposit discussion. In 2018, cans were kept out of the deposit process because of the focus on the plastic soup. But with the knowledge that there is also plastic in the cans, and that those cans frequently end up in the environment, it is immediately clear that they must be included in the fight against plastic soup.

That was also the opinion of the submitters of a motion in the House of Representatives. The motion by members Dik-Faber, Van Eijs and Von Martels "requests the government, based on data from the ongoing study (the count), to map the amount of plastic in the environment as a result of cans in litter and to inform the House of this".

In response to that motion in the House of Representatives, State Secretary van Veldhoven stated on 3 July 2019: "We have all seen the reports about the cans and I think, short and simple, we all want to know how big that problem really is. We need to map that. The motion submitted by Ms Dik-Faber on this, motion no. 237, is about this. It requests the government to map the amount of plastic in the environment as a result of cans in litter, based on data from the ongoing study, and to inform the House. I think we all have an interest in that".

With the calculation in this article, we provide an indication of the amount of plastic that ends up in the environment along with the cans.

The many problems with cans

Drink cans that end up in the environment are a problem in several ways. It is a major annoyance for people. They increase litter, which bothers everyone. They also cause the costs of cleanup services to rise.

If cans end up in animal feed during mowing, they cause illness and even death in cattle. Cans in litter also mean a loss of valuable recyclable raw materials, such as aluminium.

The subpar recycling of cans also has an impact on the climate. The recycling rate for aluminium cans is currently 62%. With a 90% return of cans, the study indicates that eventually 96% of the aluminium can is recycled, leading to a CO2 saving of 34 kton, according to the study on the costs and effects of deposits carried out by CE Delft in 2017 on behalf of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management.

The problems with cans are therefore diverse and numerous. These reasons alone should be enough for the government to want to keep cans out of litter effectively.

Deposits prove in 39 countries that they reduce the presence of plastic bottles and cans in litter by 70 to 90 percent. Furthermore, the environmental measure has the support of 8 out of 10 Dutch people. The public support for deposits on cans is huge and still growing.

These arguments were also rightly the basis for the 2 motions in the House of Representatives (motion by Dik-Faber and motion by Paternotte) asking the government to prepare a deposit scheme for cans.

Appendix Calculation of surface area of plastic in cans

Calculation of the surface area of the plastic layer based on the dimensions of a 33 cl can

Height of the can: 115 mm

Diameter of the can: 65 mm

Radius of the can: 32.5 mm

65 x pi x 115 = 23,483.4050 mm = cylinder surface area

32.5 x 32.5 x pi = 3,318.3072 mm = top surface area

32.5 x 32.5 x pi = 3,318.3072 mm = bottom surface area

+

30,120.0194 mm2 = 0.0301 m2

100 cans of 33cl in nature are therefore equivalent to 3m2 of thin plastic in nature.