This is evident from figures from Verpact, previously called Afvalfonds Verpakkingen. Over the past three years, we even lost a total of 374 million euros in deposits.
The amount increased considerably last year, because a deposit on cans has also been levied since April 1, 2023.
Deposit bottles
Last year, Verpact estimated that we returned almost 70 percent of the small deposit bottles and almost 88 percent of the large bottles.
That is more than a year earlier, but the target of 90 percent is still far from being achieved. And that legal objective applies from 2022.
The percentage of small bottles that were returned increased considerably, by ten percentage points. But for large deposit bottles, the percentage returned hardly increased at all, by only 1.1 percentage points.
Cans
Cans are returned least often to collect deposits. The share of cans returned increased from 26 percent in the second quarter, via 61 percent in the third quarter of 2023 to 65 percent in the fourth quarter.
But that also falls well short of the 90 percent target.
36 percent not collected
All in all, the Dutch only collected 63.5 percent of the deposit they paid last year. We did not collect the remaining 36 percent, or 212 million euros. Many deposit bottles and cans ended up in the garbage, in the plastic bin and partly on the roadside.
RTL Z previously calculated that Dutch people leave approximately 250 million euros worth of deposits on an annual basis. If you take into account that there was no deposit on cans in the first quarter of last year, Verpact’s calculation results in approximately the same amount on an annual basis.
More deposit machines needed
Consumers have regularly complained recently about queues for deposit machines. Hundreds of additional deposit machines must be installed at supermarkets in the coming years to ensure that people hand in more plastic bottles, according to a plan that the Packaging Waste Fund submitted to the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) in December.
There should also be more return points outside the supermarkets.
Don’t send money to supermarkets and producers
Supermarkets or producers do not become richer if consumers do not return bottles or cans with a deposit.
Only if you take your deposit bottles and cans to the supermarket, but do not hand in the receipt (and do not donate to a good cause), the money is for the supermarket.
