Many residents have questions about waste and resources policy, waste separation and waste charges. This is understandable. Therefore, here you will find answers to frequently asked questions about the waste and raw materials policy.
Do you have another question? Ask us your question. We will do our best to answer your question to the best of our ability. And you help complete this list of frequently asked questions right away.
We are still throwing away too many valuable raw materials. In 2020, residents of our four municipalities produced an average of 232 kg of residual waste per person. Much of this - think vegetable and food waste, plastic, paper and textiles - we can reuse. Research shows that 75% of residual waste still consists of raw materials. By separating these better, they can be given a second life.
And that is necessary, because there are fewer and fewer raw materials. That is why it is important that we use, share and reuse things for longer. This way, we need to extract fewer new materials from the earth. And less residual waste remains. Processing residual waste is also becoming more expensive every year. The central government taxes the incineration of residual waste to combat pollution. Less waste is therefore important for the environment as well as for your wallet.
That is why we have been working with a joint strategy since 2021. Our goal: no more than 100 kilos of residual waste per inhabitant in 2025. With this policy, we are working together towards a future where we are smarter about waste. Less waste, more recycling. And that starts with the choices we make at home.
We explicitly involved residents in the creation of the waste and raw materials policy. Wishes, motives and perceptions were inventoried in spring 2020 with a residents' survey. Good suggestions came out of this survey. We supplemented these suggestions with our suggestions and possible measures, and submitted them again in a second residents' survey in early 2021.
Several measures have been introduced since 2021. These include the closure of underground containers, the environment pass and, in three of the four municipalities, also the recycling fee. In Gorinchem, Hardinxveld-Giessendam and Molenlanden, residents pay per time they dispose of residual waste. In Vijfheerenlanden, this does not yet apply.
Together with residents and municipalities, we have already achieved a lot. By 2024, residual waste will be reduced to 133 kilos per person - a 40% drop. Separation of raw materials also increased. Residents offered on average 9 kg more vegetable, fruit, garden and food waste (VGF), 6 kg more plastic packaging, metal packaging and drink cartons (pmd), and 1.5 kg more textiles.
Find out more in the mid-term review strategy paper 2021 - 2025.
Central government's circular targets are set out in the National Waste Management Plan (LAP3). All governments must take these into account when performing their waste management tasks. This means they have to adopt central government's targets in local policy plans. There are no real sanctions for not meeting the national targets. However, central government has introduced an incineration tax for residual waste. By doing so, it encourages municipalities to separate waste as much as possible and thereby reduce residual waste. Municipalities that do not work on the circular economy and therefore have a lot of residual waste pay more incineration tax than municipalities that do work on the circular economy.
Since there are fewer and fewer raw materials, it is important that we reuse more. That way, we need to extract fewer new materials from the earth. To do this, we need to make changes together in all links of the chain: starting with the extraction of raw materials, the production of goods and (packaging) materials to the collection and processing of discarded goods and materials. If we take into account the processing of goods and packaging in the end-of-life phase at the beginning of the chain, we can together achieve a lot of circular gain.
The Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNG) and the Association of Waste Management Companies (VA) already exerts a lot of influence at the national level on producers to market reuse-friendly products and materials.
At the 2021-2025 strategy paper we propose a number of measures to increase the influence of our municipalities on the national discussion topics. Municipalities also have a responsibility to make maximum efforts to collect and reuse as many raw materials separately as possible.
Separate collection and processing of paper and cardboard, packaging glass and cans are already at a very high level. Around 85 per cent of these materials are already recycled. Separate collection of plastic packaging is comparatively new and still under development.
In the coming years, we will work to reduce waste. And we need your help to do so!
