The Dutch government recently decided that a deposit on small plastic bottles would be introduced in 2021. In Belgium, however, the federal and Flemish governments have not yet reached agreement on such a course of action. The possible introduction of a deposit on cans and PET bottles has caused friction between the N-VA and CD&V parties in the Flemish coalition government. According to the N-VA, the deposit threatens to increase prices for consumers, and will have an impact on people who are already sorting waste properly, so the party vetoed it. Flemish CD&V minister Joke Schauvliege (responsible for environment, nature, and agriculture) is solidly in favour of deposits.
However, dozens of Flemish cities and municipalities are not prepared to wait for the government to take the lead and have joined the ‘Statiegeldalliantie’ (Deposit Alliance). This organisation wants to encourage the Flemish government to introduce a deposit on plastic beverage bottles and cans of something like 25 eurocents on each item. Consumers will then get this deposit back in full the moment they return the empty packaging via a vending machine or store counter. When the bottles and cans are returned, they are sent to a waste processor to be reutilised in the production of plastic bottles and cans.
The question is whether this will put the well-established PMD (plastic, metals, and drink cartons) bag system in jeopardy. We at Covera are obviously following events closely.