New offensive against packaging waste

State Secretary Van Veldhoven of Infrastructure and Water Management, together with producers, is launching a new offensive against packaging waste. She wrote this to the House of Representatives on Thursday 2 July. The aim is to reduce the use of packaging, stimulate re-use of packaging and improve the quality of collection and recycling. The Dutch circular and European recycling targets will be laid down by law and introduced by 2021. In 2025, the operation of both targets will be evaluated.

Going beyond European rules

This involves the introduction of European rules, in which Van Veldhoven, together with the packaging industry in the Netherlands, goes one step further. In addition to the introduction of the European recycling targets, it has agreed concrete circular targets with the packaging industry up to and including 2025 by adding re-use to recycling. The Netherlands is the first European country to set circular targets in this way.

From recycling to reuse

These are new agreements on the recycling and reuse of glass, plastic, paper and cardboard, metal and wood. The EU recycling target for all packaging together is 70% by 2030. The Netherlands will meet this target as early as 2021 and raise the bar. By 2025, 74% must be recycled and/or reused in the Netherlands. One of the measures to achieve this target is to make it easier for citizens to separate. With the exception of glass and waste paper, all empty packaging will soon be included in the PMD (Plastic, Metal and Beverage Cartons). The collection of glass beer bottles is and remains a voluntary system. In recent years, however, more and more beer bottles have turned up without a deposit. By counting re-use, there is now an incentive for producers to retain and extend deposits on these bottles. 

Van Veldhoven: "As the Netherlands, we are on the right track, but we want to recycle all packaging and encourage producers to reuse it. With these circular objectives we are taking a big step in the right direction for a clean, green circular economy".

rijksoverheid.nl