Fost Plus recycling figures are fake

That is according to environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk in response to the study by 11 waste intermunicipal companies and the city of Antwerp into actual recycling figures. The study found that only 50 per cent of plastic bottles and flasks are recycled, while Fost Plus has been claiming for years that the figure is more than 80 per cent. According to Fost Plus, even 87.7% of plastic bottles would be recycled.

See also the live debate in the Flemish Parliament on Wednesday 3 October after 15.30 at https://www.vlaamsparlement.be/plenaire-vergaderingen/1274143#video

The way Fost Plus calculates has been under fire for some time. In June 2018, environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk carried out a fact check on the Fost Plus recycling figures. Our conclusion was that a maximum of 62.2 to 66.3% is recycled, and the actual recycling figure could well be lower.

Only half is actually recycled

The empirical study by Recover, a collaboration between 11 waste intermunicipal companies and the City of Antwerp, now confirms these findings. Recover established that only half is recycled. Furthermore, those recycled bottles are not used to make new bottles, but end up in insulation material and fleece jumpers. These are not recycled, but end up on the waste mountain or as plastic soup in the sea.

So the actual recycling rate of plastic bottles in Flanders is 50 per cent. This figure stands in stark contrast to the 96 to 98% achieved by Germany with a deposit system. In Lithuania, where they introduced a deposit system just two years ago, they already achieve 91.9% recycling of plastic bottles. Now that we know the actual Flemish recycling rate, it immediately becomes clear how much more environmental benefit can be achieved by extending the deposit scheme in Flanders from beer bottles to all plastic bottles.

This is how we can move towards a circular economy: a plastic bottle is recycled into a new plastic bottle. That is a high-value application, which truly tackles plastic environmental pollution. With the planned expansion of the blue bag, the exact opposite seems to be happening. In the blue bag, more other types of plastics are collected together. As a result, the plastic bottles become more contaminated and are more difficult to recycle to a high standard.

Government policy based on fake figures

With the Recover study, it has now also been definitively established that Fost Plus's recycling figures are not correct, but fake figures. This is a problem because the government relies on those figures. The industry's self-reporting through Fost Plus was the sole guide for all plans so far.

“To measure is to know. If the Flemish government wants to develop a serious waste policy, it must quickly take charge of recycling measurements itself. As long as the government itself does not have objective data, and relies on the industry's self-reporting through Fost Plus, all targets, including those of the "packaging plan" decided by the government before the summer, will be built entirely on quicksand,” Recycling Netwerk concludes.

See also: Het Nieuwsblad, Barely half of plastic bottles and flasks are recycled (and unfortunately that is not the only problem), 3 October 2018

That is according to environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk in response to the study by 11 waste intermunicipal companies and the city of Antwerp into actual recycling figures. The study found that only 50 per cent of plastic bottles and flasks are recycled, while Fost Plus has been claiming for years that the figure is more than 80 per cent. According to Fost Plus, even 87.7% would be recycled.

See also the live debate in the Flemish Parliament on Wednesday 3 October after 15.30 at https://www.vlaamsparlement.be/plenaire-vergaderingen/1274143#video

The way Fost Plus calculates has been under fire for some time. In June 2018, environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk carried out a fact check on the Fost Plus recycling figures. Our conclusion was that a maximum of 62.2 to 66.3% is recycled, and the actual recycling figure could well be lower.

Only half is actually recycled

The empirical study by Recover, a collaboration between 11 waste intermunicipal companies and the City of Antwerp, now confirms these findings. Recover established that only half is recycled. Furthermore, those recycled bottles are not used to make new bottles, but end up in insulation material and fleece jumpers. These are not recycled, but end up on the waste mountain or as plastic soup in the sea.

So the actual recycling rate of plastic bottles in Flanders is 50 per cent. This figure stands in stark contrast to the 96 to 98% achieved by Germany with a deposit system. In Lithuania, where they introduced a deposit system just two years ago, they already achieve 91.9% recycling of plastic bottles. Now that we know the actual Flemish recycling rate, it immediately becomes clear how much more environmental benefit can be achieved by extending the deposit scheme in Flanders from beer bottles to all plastic bottles.

This is how we can move towards a circular economy: a plastic bottle is recycled into a new plastic bottle. That is a high-value application, which truly tackles plastic environmental pollution. With the planned expansion of the blue bag, the exact opposite seems to be happening. In the blue bag, more other types of plastics are collected together. As a result, the plastic bottles become more contaminated and are more difficult to recycle to a high standard.

Government policy based on fake figures

With the Recover study, it has now also been definitively established that Fost Plus's recycling figures are not correct, but fake figures. This is a problem because the government relies on those figures. The industry's self-reporting through Fost Plus was the sole guide for all plans so far.

“To measure is to know. If the Flemish government wants to develop a serious waste policy, it must quickly take charge of recycling measurements itself. As long as the government itself does not have objective data, and relies on the industry's self-reporting through Fost Plus, all targets, including those of the "packaging plan" decided by the government before the summer, will be built entirely on quicksand,” Recycling Netwerk concludes.

See also: Het Nieuwsblad, Barely half of plastic bottles and flasks are recycled (and unfortunately that is not the only problem), 3 October 2018