On Friday 8th of August 2025 Dutch news outlets echoed about a sentencing on plastic waste smuggling from the Netherlands to various non-EU countries. NL Times, AD, local news outlets, and the Dutch Inspection (ILT) reported the criminal sentencing of 4 people and 3 companies for illicit plastic waste trade, with one of them being also charged with money laundering.
Despite its small size, the Netherlands is one of the world's largest exporters of plastic waste per capita. Thanks to the port of Rotterdam and a strong trading position, the Netherlands acts as an important transit country - even for shipments with shadowy origins and destinations. A lack of enforcement makes the system vulnerable to illegal exports, with waste often ending up in countries with weak environmental regulations. This article shows how the Netherlands unintentionally contributes to global environmental pollution and why stricter rules and more responsibility are crucial.
The entry into force of the revised Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on February 11th 2025 brings large changes in the way packaging is managed in Europe. In this article, we give an overview of the main provisions of this Packaging regulation.
Coca-Cola, Unilever, Lidl are the main culprits for the pollution of the Flemish Coast in Ostend. Not families with children, nor tourists. Fair Resource Foundation joined forces with Proper Strand Lopers and City to Ocean to hold producers accountable.
RNB joins forces with other Belgian NGOs to launch the #EndDoublePackaging campaign to encourage consumers to report cases of overpackaging.
Unnoticed, however, they also receive a lot of paper and plastics through their regular letterbox mail. The annual quantity of plastic magazine wrappers is even twice the quantity that is received as parcels in plastic shipping bags. After all, magazines and...
Coca-Cola partners with The Ocean Cleanup: Break Free From Plastic Reacts. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Brussels - June 4, 2021 The international movement of plastic-fighting NGO’s Break Free From Plastic reacts to the announcement of partnership between top plastic...
“Norway has achieved great success with this method. This is a very good way of tackling pollution caused by plastic and cans”, environmental organization Recycling Netwerk Benelux says in response to the coalition agreement. The Belgian federal coalition agreement...
Since China banned plastic waste imports from other countries in 2018, there has been an "alarming increase" in illegal waste shipments that, camouflaged through multiple transit countries, end up heading to Southeast Asia anyway. So writes Interpol in the...