Pay for a plastic chip tray? Bring your plate, says the government

Snack bar owners understand the abolition of plastic, but it does entail extra costs and work. Moreover, it comes on top of increased energy and product prices; for example, oil became three times more expensive than before the energy increase and milk for soft ice cream was almost twice as expensive. “But you can’t make a soft ice cream twice as expensive,” says snack bar owner Ivan Harderwijk from Amstelveen. “Those paper and sugar cane containers are more expensive, bigger in size and harder to come by.”

Extra on the receipt

How much should such a sustainable chip tray cost? Snack bar owner Ed Zuurbier from Haarlem finds that difficult. He offers his snacks for the same price until the stock of plastic is gone and mentions that it includes plastic. “Yes, the sugar cane trays are more expensive, so the price will go up a bit. But not too much, because I don’t want dissatisfied customers. It will be penny-pinching,” he explains.

Ivan Harderwijk has no idea how to calculate that. “Do I have to check the receipt in all the hustle and bustle and add a few cents to everything? That is really unworkable.”

Bring your own crockery

If you no longer want to eat your favorite snack made of or with plastic, you can bring your own crockery. Zuurbier is not surprised if that happens on Saturday. “Yes, of course you can. We just respond to that, it is no different.”

Snack bar owner Mark Idema from Bussum doesn’t like that for hygienic reasons. “I don’t know what happened to that service, maybe the dog drank from it or you washed your feet in it. Some customers already come in with their own bag, which we then have to place the order in. That’s where we are actually not waiting for it. It has been used before, it may have contained returnable bottles or the bag has been on the floor.”