Dutch supermarkets convinced that deposit plan prevents possible penalty

Supermarkets and other companies are convinced that their improvement plan to collect sufficient deposit packaging is good enough to prevent a possible penalty from the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT). This is according to director Hester Klein Lankhorst of Verpact, the organization responsible for collecting and recycling packaging on behalf of the business community.

The plan states that more deposit machines must be installed by the end of 2026. For instance, 800 additional devices must be installed in and near supermarkets and 4,600 collection machines in other places where many people visit, such as stations, schools, and festivals. The business community wants to motivate people to return empty bottles and cans with a deposit and not throw them away. Klein Lankhorst says the improvement plans have been drawn up "very thoroughly".

Every year, 90 percent of the deposit packaging must be returned, but Verpact has never achieved this. In September, the ILT threatened the then Packaging Waste Fund, now called Verpact, with a possible penalty payment for not achieving this target for plastic bottles. If the business community has not installed at least 2,800 new collection points by the end of 2025, Verpact may receive a penalty payment from the ILT. According to the plan, more than 3,700 will have been added by then.

"We have now been on the road for three quarters of a year, and we see that things are going very well," says the director of Verpact during an update on progress at the counting center in Utrecht. For example, three out of four deposit cans were returned in the first quarter, according to Verpact, compared to 65 percent in the previous quarter.

The inspectorate also wants the deposit increased to 50 cents. Klein Lankhorst says Verpact is in discussions with the ILT about this. About the threat of a penalty payment, she says, "We don't know what they will come up with. They have their own role in this, but we can still consult with each other."

The director of Verpact is not interested in other measures to increase the collection percentage, such as obligating organizations to install deposit machines. "That is up to the regulator."