The Dutch State Secretary for Infrastructure and Water Management Stientje van Veldhoven has announced that the packaging industry in the Netherlands will not only be implementing the recycling targets set by the EU, but that this will be taken a step further.
Concrete circular targets have been agreed with packaging companies through 2025, which will be achieved by recycling and by stimulating reuse. B
y implementing the targets in this way, the country aims to reduce the use of packaging and to stimulate its reuse in addition to improving the quality of collection, sorting and recycling processes. The Netherlands is the first European country to set circular objectives in this way. As Van Veldhoven noted: “Recycling is good, reuse is even better.
The Dutch packaging industry is one of the international leaders in smarter handling of materials and CO2 savings. Together we are working towards a clean, green future. ”
According to Cees de Mol van Otterloo, director of the Packaging Waste Fund, much packaging is already being recycled in the Netherlands. He described the new recycling targets as ‘a new dot on the horizon towards a circular packaging economy’.
The EU recycling target for all packaging - glass, plastic, paper and cardboard, metal and wood - is 70% by 2030. The Netherlands is on course to hit this by 2021.
The country aims to recycle/reuse 74% of all packaging by 2025. One way this will be achieved is by making the sorting process easier for citizens. All empty packaging, except for glass and wastepaper, will come under the heading of the PMD – a waste stream consisting of plastic, metal and beverage cartons, and bins or containers will be available in which to dispose of this waste.
The collection of glass beer bottles is and will remain voluntary. In recent years, however, more and more beer bottles have come onto the market without a deposit. By including reuse, producers will have an incentive to keep and impose a deposit levy on these bottles.
“With these circular objectives, we are taking a major step in the right direction for a clean, green circular economy,” said Van Veldhoven.
The Dutch circular and European recycling targets will be laid down by law and introduced by 2021. The functioning of both objectives will be evaluated in 2025.