Evaluation Strategy Note 2021-2025: results visible, goal not yet achieved. The goal of the waste and resources strategy is to achieve a maximum of 100 kilograms of residual waste per inhabitant by 2025. Measures are aimed at improving raw material collection, regulating residual waste collection and rewarding waste separation. The evaluation shows that the amount of waste per inhabitant has fallen significantly in recent years in the Waardlanden municipalities. Between 2020 and 2024, residents handed in an average 179 kg less waste and raw materials per inhabitant. Residual waste even decreased by more than 40% to an average 133 kilos per inhabitant in 2024.
Inez van Kronenberg of Avalon Advice conducted the mid-term review of the Strategy Note: "After adopting the Strategy Memorandum in 2021, the project organisation and the municipalities enthusiastically set to work on the new policy. Waste collection has undergone a major overhaul in recent years. And residents have noticed that. The changes and all the hard work of the residents resulted in major environmental gains. In 2024, there was much less residual waste and much more waste could be recycled into new products and materials. Worth a compliment!"
Less residual waste, more recycling
In 2021, the four municipal councils set joint ambitions. A key reason for drafting the strategy memorandum was that every year, councils saw the cost of burning residual waste rise. A trend that will continue in the future. From 2026, the government will give waste incinerators an extra incentive to gradually reduce CO2 emissions. The government is doing this partly to implement the principle: the polluter pays. Waardlanden's strategy is to protect residents from rising residual waste processing costs by significantly reducing the amount of residual waste per inhabitant per year. We therefore aim for less residual waste, better separation and more recycling. This is in line with the national VANG (From Waste to Resource) targets, which apply to all municipalities.
Measures show impact
As part of the new policy, several measures were taken, such as the closure of underground containers and the introduction of the environment pass. In the municipalities of Gorinchem, Hardinxveld-Giessendam and Molenlanden, the recycling tariff was also introduced. Residents in these municipalities pay a rate each time they dispose of their residual waste. In the municipality of Vijfheerenlanden, this does not yet apply.
By 2024, residual waste had fallen to 133 kg of residual waste on average per inhabitant. A 40% drop from the 223 kg of residual waste average per inhabitant in 2020, before the introduction of the strategy note. Separation of raw materials also increased across the area, with on average 9 kg more vegetable, fruit, garden and food waste (VGF), 6 kg more plastic packaging, metal packaging and drink containers (pmd) and 1.5 kg more textiles per resident. The investments and structural costs of implementing the strategy memorandum remained within budget until 2024.
Residual waste full of raw materials
Sorting analyses show that 75% of residual waste still consists of raw materials, such as VGF, nappies and PMD. These residual flows can be separated even better. Raw materials are becoming increasingly scarce and can be better reused instead of incinerated at high cost. The quality of separated waste has improved: pmd and biodegradable waste contain less pollution than before. Only for textiles has pollution increased slightly.
In order to achieve the Strategy Memorandum's residual waste target of 100 kg per inhabitant - in addition to implementing outstanding actions - additional policy is needed, such as even more encouragement for the proper separation of raw materials and more awareness about waste prevention through recycling and making other choices such as using, sharing or passing on items for longer.