Too many people throw away their deposit bottles and cans. Dieuwertje Vorstenbosch (31) from Tilburg also thinks so. She set up a shopping cart in Tilburg where everyone could put their deposit. That turned out to be a resounding success because the cart was full in no time. She received many enthusiastic responses and now wants to try to spread her idea further.
Dieuwertje was terribly annoyed by all the deposits that were simply thrown away and not returned to the supermarket, for example. Her boyfriend has a studio in a building on Jules de Beerstraat on the Kraaiven industrial estate. There she saw many cans and bottles simply ending up in the trash. There are several studios in the building and the people working there have nowhere to put those cans.
“Those cans leak into your bag and then I understand why people throw them away.”
“Those cans are also terrible to store,” Dieuwertje realizes. “They leak into your bag and then I understand that people throw it away. But it is wasted money and the cans and bottles are not recycled properly.”
Coincidentally, there was a shopping cart near the building. She put them inside and wrote on a piece of cardboard that people could return their deposit bottles and cans here. “The cart quickly filled up with empty cans and bottles. There is also a dance studio in the building, which you can tell by the number of water bottles.”
“Hopefully everyone in the building can benefit from it.”
The cart has now also been emptied once, but Dieuwertje does not yet know by whom. “It must have been someone from the building. I hope that person handled the proceeds consciously. It would be best if everyone in the building could benefit from it.”
Coincidentally, a little later the boy in question walks into the building and has already emptied the cart. “I took it with me and did some shopping with it. A cart like that easily yields 5 euros,” says Corné. Student Sophie also thinks it’s a good idea. “I usually take my bottles back to the store myself, because that saves me some money. But when I see that cart here, I give it to someone else too.”
“We all have to do something about it.”
It is no surprise that Dieuwertje, of all people, came up with this idea. She works as social future designer and uses her creativity to design a better society. As climate mayor of Tilburg, she tries to set an example for the neighborhood to live more consciously, pollute less and conserve energy.
She wants to try to further spread her idea during National Climate Week at the end of October. There are already brackets around some waste bins where you can leave bottles, but she finds them a bit small. “A cart like this can hold a huge amount in no time, so it would be good to place these types of carts in more places.” According to Dieuwertje, this must be a more professional design. “Maybe a large supermarket chain or soft drink manufacturer would also want to help. We all have to do something about it.”
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