It has only been there for four months, and now a majority in the House of Representatives wants to get rid of it: the plastic tax. The VVD withdrew its support, which meant that a motion by the SP to scrap the ‘bullying tax’ as quickly as possible was suddenly supported by a parliamentary majority this week. The tax does not force companies to become more sustainable, but it does increase prices for customers. This undermines support for climate policy, the SP argues. Many right-wing parties agreed with the socialists. Other left-wing parties do not.
Since July 1, there has been a levy on disposable plastic packaging that you receive with takeaway food and drinks. The plastic container that holds supermarket salad, plastic-lined takeaway coffee cups, chip containers and sauce tubs. The goal: reduce the use of single-use plastic, encourage reusable packaging and reduce plastic litter.
Sounds good, but the measure was rarely poorly designed. He cannot be maintained the responsible inspectorate told NOS this week. Sellers of takeaway food can decide for themselves how high the plastic surcharge is and keep the proceeds themselves. So it is not a real tax. Various supermarkets and takeaway tents charge a small amount, 1 cent for example. Of course, this does not encourage customers to bring their own coffee cup. And it is doubtful whether it encourages companies to use more sustainable packaging.
‘Zwerfinator’ Dirk Groot has found just as many disposable cups on the street since the tax came into effect, he reported this week. He has been picking up litter for years and counts what he finds. The amount of the tax is not the problem, Groot thinks. However, you pay the tax anyway, whether you properly throw the cup in a trash can or not. He didn’t really like salad packaging and chip containers anyway. “You don’t walk around with that,” he explains to me. Groot did see one positive effect: he finds fewer plastic cup lids. Companies have replaced them with cardboard lids. Otherwise, coffee shops would have to charge twice the tax: for the cup and the lid.
What do we learn from this? And how should it be done? In the Netherlands, we throw away 19 million cups and containers every day after single use, the government reports. Plastic is a major problem for the climate and the environment. Many greenhouse gases are released during production and combustion. And plastic waste accumulates in nature, polluting oceans. You would like us to use and throw away much less of it, but for now it is only increasing.
The Netherlands recycles a lot, but much is still incinerated or used in a low-quality way, for example in roadside posts.
Zwerfinator Groot can see what works and his conclusions are simple. A ban works: he can no longer find plastic cutlery since it has been banned. Deposits also work. When it was introduced on plastic bottles in 2021, the number of bottles he found dropped dramatically. The same applies to cans that have had a deposit since April. He now has 75 percent fewer cans on the street. Deposits give people a reason to return bottles and cans. Clear enough.
Groot’s advice: place a deposit on all to-go packaging, because manufacturers are switching to packaging that does not have a deposit. For example, Groot now finds many more beverage cartons on the street: there is no requirement for a deposit.
Using less plastic is best, because recycling also costs energy. Pump sauce onto the fries, don’t sell it in a plastic container. This way we waste less and place less burden on the earth.
Before you think ‘Let’s just ban all plastic’: plastic packaging is not bad in itself. For example, the plastic around food such as cucumbers makes sense as it spoils less quickly. The environmental impact of throwing away food is greater than that of packaging, warns the Milieucentraal information agency. Paper packaging is not always better.
We should be much more picky with plastic. There is waste in the economy that does not match the change we say we want: less burden on the earth, less environmental pollution, less greenhouse gas emissions. This requires making far fewer things that we quickly throw away.
That is not going well in the Netherlands according to the climate calculators of the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL). We have been dumping and burning more waste in recent years. We consume more plastic packaging. And we use furniture and clothes for a shorter period of time. Yes, the Netherlands recycles a lot, but a lot is still incinerated or used in a low-quality way, for example in roadside posts.
If a new government still wants the Netherlands to consume far fewer metals and fossil raw materials in 2030, more compelling policy is needed, concludes the PBL. Now there are mainly voluntary agreements with companies. It is better to set requirements for the design of products, so that they last longer and are easier to recycle. Demand that plastics are made partly from recycled plastic. And impose a tax on the fossil raw material from which plastic is made: oil. There is now an excise duty exemption in Europe on mineral oils that are used as raw materials in, for example, paint and plastics. According to the outgoing cabinet, this tax benefit amounts to 14 billion euros in the Netherlands. No wonder it is now more attractive to make plastic from oil than from used plastic.
What kind of economy do we have that wastes so much so easily? You can only draw one conclusion: pollution is too cheap, the damage we cause is far too small.
A version of this article also appeared in the October 21, 2023 newspaper.