Recommendations from NGOs for the new cabinet's plastics policy

A coalition of six nature and environmental organisations shares in a letter to the new State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management which points the new cabinet should prioritise to tackle the plastic crisis. The goal: a decisive and ambitious plastic policy in the Netherlands quickly.

Dear Ms Heijnen,

Congratulations on your appointment as State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management. A beautiful portfolio with the promotion of the transition to a circular economy as an essential part. One of the urgent topics within this theme is plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is internationally recognised as one of the world's biggest environmental problems. Nevertheless, the word 'plastic' does not appear even once in the coalition agreement.

In this letter, we, a coalition of nature and environmental organisations, share with you which points the new cabinet should prioritise to tackle the plastic crisis. On this basis, we hope that you will quickly present a decisive and ambitious plastic policy.

Threat to health

Plastic pollution poses a threat to human and animal health. The huge increase in plastic production and the resulting pollution has quickly grown into a global environmental problem with numerous harmful consequences. It causes biodiversity loss, damages ecosystems and contributes to climate change.

Large-scale plastic production and consumption do not fit into a healthy and circular economy. Current policies, mainly focused on recycling and based on voluntariness, prove inadequate in reducing plastic production, consumption and pollution.

To prevent irreparable damage to the environment and our health, ambitious and decisive plastic policy must be developed at national and international level. The Dutch government has the responsibility and duty to ensure, for the benefit of human and environmental health, through laws and regulations:

an absolute reduction in the production and use of plastic, especially new (virgin) plastic;

recycling, but only when it can be done safely;

full commitment to reuse;

prevention of plastic waste in the environment by expanding deposit return systems.

The coming years are crucial, this is the time to act. We ask you to do what is necessary to safeguard the health of our planet for current and future generations.

Crucial points of attention

To achieve the above objectives, the undersigned organisations ask for your attention to the following points:

1. Take control yourself

To date, attempts have been made in the Netherlands to solve the plastic crisis as much as possible by making agreements with companies and sectors on a voluntary basis. Unfortunately, with too few results, leading to lack of clarity and unnecessary delay. The Plastic Pact is a striking example of this. The undersigned organisations are therefore of the opinion that clear and binding laws and regulations are needed to break the impasse and make up for the damage incurred.

Almost all legal measures so far are the result of European policy. If the Netherlands wants to have a leading role in making the EU greener (Coalition Agreement 2021-2025, p.37), then more initiative from the government is necessary. The same applies to the role of the Netherlands in the United Nations. As one of the 80 member states that signed the Oceans Day Plastic Pollution Declaration, the Dutch government should actively commit itself internationally to global and legal agreements on the reduction of plastic use. The emphasis must lie on prevention, reduction and reuse, above recycling and clean-up. Guaranteeing human and environmental health must be leading in this.

2. Ensure a real circular economy

To achieve a circular economy, it is important to look at the entire life cycle of products. Circular design does not only mean that products can be recycled better, but above all that products last longer, can be reused and lose as few microplastics as possible throughout their entire life cycle. A number of points are important here:

Firstly, the products that end up most in litter must be banned. This means an expansion of the Single Use Plastics (SUP) list of plastic products to be banned that are superfluous or can be replaced by other (reusable) materials, such as plastic cigarette filters, wet wipes, etc.

There must be a full focus on prevention and reuse. Single use of plastic must be heavily restricted. Recycling has too often been presented as a solution, but does not stop pollution and barely leads to a reduction in the wider environmental impact. By embedding reuse in environmental policy, litter is prevented and the use

A coalition of six nature and environmental organisations shares in a letter to the new State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management which points the new cabinet should prioritise to tackle the plastic crisis. The goal: a decisive and ambitious plastic policy in the Netherlands quickly.

Dear Ms Heijnen,

Congratulations on your appointment as State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management. A beautiful portfolio with the promotion of the transition to a circular economy as an essential part. One of the urgent topics within this theme is plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is internationally recognised as one of the world's biggest environmental problems. Nevertheless, the word 'plastic' does not appear even once in the coalition agreement.

In this letter, we, a coalition of nature and environmental organisations, share with you which points the new cabinet should prioritise to tackle the plastic crisis. On this basis, we hope that you will quickly present a decisive and ambitious plastic policy.

Threat to health

Plastic pollution poses a threat to human and animal health. The huge increase in plastic production and the resulting pollution has quickly grown into a global environmental problem with numerous harmful consequences. It causes biodiversity loss, damages ecosystems and contributes to climate change.

Large-scale plastic production and consumption do not fit into a healthy and circular economy. Current policies, mainly focused on recycling and based on voluntariness, prove inadequate in reducing plastic production, consumption and pollution.

To prevent irreparable damage to the environment and our health, ambitious and decisive plastic policy must be developed at national and international level. The Dutch government has the responsibility and duty to ensure, for the benefit of human and environmental health, through laws and regulations:

an absolute reduction in the production and use of plastic, especially new (virgin) plastic;

recycling, but only when it can be done safely;

full commitment to reuse;

prevention of plastic waste in the environment by expanding deposit return systems.

The coming years are crucial, this is the time to act. We ask you to do what is necessary to safeguard the health of our planet for current and future generations.

Crucial points of attention

To achieve the above objectives, the undersigned organisations ask for your attention to the following points:

1. Take control yourself

To date, attempts have been made in the Netherlands to solve the plastic crisis as much as possible by making agreements with companies and sectors on a voluntary basis. Unfortunately, with too few results, leading to lack of clarity and unnecessary delay. The Plastic Pact is a striking example of this. The undersigned organisations are therefore of the opinion that clear and binding laws and regulations are needed to break the impasse and make up for the damage incurred.

Almost all legal measures so far are the result of European policy. If the Netherlands wants to have a leading role in making the EU greener (Coalition Agreement 2021-2025, p.37), then more initiative from the government is necessary. The same applies to the role of the Netherlands in the United Nations. As one of the 80 member states that signed the Oceans Day Plastic Pollution Declaration, the Dutch government should actively commit itself internationally to global and legal agreements on the reduction of plastic use. The emphasis must lie on prevention, reduction and reuse, above recycling and clean-up. Guaranteeing human and environmental health must be leading in this.

2. Ensure a real circular economy

To achieve a circular economy, it is important to look at the entire life cycle of products. Circular design does not only mean that products can be recycled better, but above all that products last longer, can be reused and lose as few microplastics as possible throughout their entire life cycle. A number of points are important here:

Firstly, the products that end up most in litter must be banned. This means an expansion of the Single Use Plastics (SUP) list of plastic products to be banned that are superfluous or can be replaced by other (reusable) materials, such as plastic cigarette filters, wet wipes, etc.

There must be a full focus on prevention and reuse. Single use of plastic must be heavily restricted. Recycling has too often been presented as a solution, but does not stop pollution and barely leads to a reduction in the wider environmental impact. By embedding reuse in environmental policy, litter is prevented and the use of virgin plastic drastically reduced. A sturdy plastic soft drink bottle, for example, can be reused up to forty times before being recycled (this is done in Germany, for example). To reduce the use of single-use plastic, full focus must also be placed on refill systems and reducing packaging on fruit and vegetables in supermarkets. The French law against waste and for the circular economy is an inspiring example of this.

Deposits are pre-eminently suitable for facilitating and achieving the transition to reuse. By assigning value to packaging, it is returned, after which it can be offered to the consumer again. The deposit return system works. It has a proven large, positive environmental impact and must therefore be expanded to all beverage packaging, i.e. glass, plastic, cans and beverage cartons, regardless of content.

There must be requirements for recycling to reduce climate impact and the presence of chemicals. A mandatory percentage of recyclate in plastic products and a levy on virgin plastic ensure that the raw material is retained in the chain longer. When virgin plastic is more expensive, it becomes attractive for producers to use recyclate. This also has a positive effect on the climate, because fewer fossil fuels are needed for the production of new plastic. Laws and regulations are needed to guarantee high-quality and safe recyclate and to prevent downcycling and dumping.

The Dutch government can (and must) make every effort to combat microplastic pollution in order to safeguard human and environmental health. By introducing high product standards, unnecessary exposure to microplastics from, for example, textiles or cosmetics can be prevented. This can be done by supporting European regulations and advocating far-reaching measures. In addition, no more permits may be granted that allow the discharge of microplastics into the environment (such as at Chemelot), and there must be strict control and enforcement so that nurdle spills are a thing of the past.

Litter is one of the biggest social nuisances and every year hundreds of thousands of people in the Netherlands work to clean it up. The problem is being mapped out on an increasingly larger scale through citizen science. To achieve effective source control of litter, it is important to know how much, what kind, where and why litter is located somewhere. The government should therefore invest in a national monitoring programme for river waste monitoring and citizen science in the Dutch delta. By financially supporting these types of initiatives, possibly through a fund, independent valuable litter information can be provided to organisations such as Rijkswaterstaat and other government entities.

3. Let the polluters pay

Although there is extended producer responsibility (EPR) for various product groups in the Netherlands, it appears relatively easy for producers to shift the environmental damage of their products or pass it on in the price of their product. Current laws and regulations do not hold producers sufficiently responsible for the environmental damage they cause. Through awareness campaigns and supporting clean-ups, they often shift responsibility to the consumer.

It is important to hold companies more accountable for the entire life cycle of their products. A broad application of extended producer responsibility (EPR) is needed, with attention not only to the end phase of products, but also to the production and use phase. EPR must be applied more smartly, for example through eco-modulation, so that the most polluting companies have the highest costs and companies with truly sustainable solutions the lowest. This financial incentive stimulates companies to make more sustainable products that last longer and can be reused, are more recyclable and cause less microplastic wear.

We are gravely concerned about the consequences of plastic pollution for the environment and human health. However, effective policy can ensure that these consequences remain limited. It is necessary to change course and bring about systemic change through regulation on all fronts.

The undersigned environmental organisations would be happy to discuss this with you.

We wish you every success in your new position.

Yours sincerely,

Maria Westerbos Director of Plastic Soup Foundation, partner of Clean Rivers

Oskar de Roos Plastic Lead WWF-NL

Rob Buurman Director of Recycling Netwerk Benelux

Merijn Tinga Plastic Soup Surfer

Albert Jaap van Santbrink Director of the North Sea Foundation, partner of Clean Rivers

Jelle de Jong Director of IVN Environmental Education, partner of Clean Rivers