At the moment, a deposit obligation applies to plastic bottles and bottles of soft drinks, water and juices to which sugar or water has been added. This deposit obligation does not apply to products that consist of 100 percent juice.
A study by Kassa and Recycling Netwerk Benelux (RNB) previously showed that supermarkets such as Albert Heijn and Jumbo made use of this exception, while they did add sugar or water to the juice.
However, the Netherlands announced on Monday that it would open the deposit system for all juices in plastic bottles. Albert Heijn claims to embrace this development and therefore wants to introduce a deposit on all plastic juice bottles of its own brand.
The supermarket chain has already taken steps to make plastic bottles more sustainable. For example, all fresh juices are in bottles made of 100 percent recycled PET, which, thanks to washable labels, are also 100 percent recyclable. The refillable bottle for freshly squeezed orange juice was also introduced, a sustainable alternative to disposable plastic bottles. 42,000 of these have already been sold.