Dutch parliament wants to scrap surcharge on single-use plastic packaging
A majority in the Tweede Kamer, the lower house of the Dutch parliament, wants to ditch the surcharge on disposable plastic packaging. They find it unfair that consumers will have to pay 25 cents for each takeaway coffee cup or disposable french fry container from next year, RTL Nieuws reports.
The Netherlands introduced the single-use plastic levy in 2023 due to European regulations aimed at reducing plastic waste. Companies can currently determine the amount of the levy themselves, but from next year a fixed rate of 25 cents per single-use packaging will apply.
A parliamentary majority, with both left-wing and right-wing parties, finds the surcharge too high and wants to scrap it altogether.
“Citizens are being forced to pay costs in these times when every euro counts for everyone. And that while it only leads to more rules and bureaucracy for entrepreneurs. And the environment is not served by it, so we simply should not do that,” said VVD parliamentarian Martijn Buijsse on the right wing of the political spectrum.
Left-wing SP leader Jimmy Dijk added: “As far as the SP is concerned, we are really shifting the responsibility. So not to the consumer, but to the producer where it belongs. Instead of saddling people with a nuisance tax.”
The parties are also against the fact that the money raised from the levy doesn’t automatically go toward sustainability. “The proceeds of the levy simply go to the snack bar owner and they do nothing with it,” said VVD MP Buijsse.
In previous debates on the matter, PVV State Secretary Chris Jansen (Environment) had no intention to scrap the levy.
Jeroen Dagevos of the Plastic Soup Foundation disagrees with the parliamentarians’ reasoning. According to the environmental organization, the surcharge will eventually lead to a change in behavior as it did for plastic shopping bags. “Years ago, we had exactly the same discussion. The price increase worked very well for plastic bags. Their use has decreased by 70 percent.”
According to the Plastic Soup Foundation, Netherlands residents use around 19 million disposable packaging items per day, amounting to around 7 billion per year.
