Higher rates for difficult recyclable packaging

In order to further encourage the use of easily recyclable packaging, the Packaging Waste Fund (Afvalfonds Verpakkingen) will increase the fee paid by companies for the collection and recycling of their packaging for difficult to recycle packaging and reduce it for easy to recycle packaging. This so-called tariff differentiation will discourage the use of difficult recyclable packaging and reward easily recyclable packaging.

In order to further optimise the recycling of packaging, so that recycled plastic can be used effectively as a raw material for new packaging and products, packaging must become more recyclable. Although the Netherlands takes the lead in recycling, this is not always the case from packaging to packaging. The Afvalfonds is responsible in the Netherlands for the collection and recycling of packaging and considers it its task to encourage the use of easily recyclable packaging so that it can be retained as a raw material in the packaging chain.

Tariff differentiation

Managing Director Hester Klein Lankhorst: "In order to be able to use packaging optimally again as a raw material, which is more topical than ever with changing world politics and the increasing scarcity of raw materials, the recyclability of plastic packaging must be addressed. From 2019, we rewarded well recyclable packaging with a discount on the regular plastic rate. We are now going a step further with our adjusted tariff differentiation: we are increasing the regular tariff for plastic, making it more expensive to use difficult recyclable packaging."

Fair distribution

Companies that bring packaged products onto the market pay a fee on the packaging to the Afvalfonds. The Afvalfonds uses this to reimburse the costs of collecting and recycling the packaging. Every year, all producers pay around €300 million in packaging fees to the Afvalfonds. The level of the fee is based on the cost of collection and recycling. By taxing the difficult recyclable packaging more and the well recyclable packaging less, the costs are distributed more fairly.

Afvalfondsverpakkingen.nl