Do you ever doubt which bin a product or material belongs in? The separation guide on this page will help!

Residents of flats, upstairs flats and houses without three types of resource containers have been allowed to dispose of plastic packaging, metal packaging and drink cartons (pmd) in a neighbourhood residual waste collection container since the introduction of the environmental card. This waste is collected separately and later sorted by machines. As a result, we can recycle more and need to incinerate less residual waste. Residents of low-rise houses with a pmd container do separate pmd at home.

Always the separation guide at hand

With the handy Waardlanden app, you always have the separation guide to hand. You can download the Waardlanden app onto your smartphone yourself. This way you will always have all information on waste and raw materials to hand. You will also find your personal waste calendar in the app. And you can quickly and easily file reports, make a bulky waste appointment and order bags. Download the app here!

Do you prefer a paper separation guide?

You can view, download and possibly print the waste separation guide. You can hang it up in a handy place at home. That way you can quickly see what belongs where. 

• Download the handy waste separation guide in Dutch
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Arabic
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in English
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Ukrainian
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Polish
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Romanian
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Spanish
• Download the handy waste sorting guide in Turkish

By separating waste, we keep less residual waste. Thus, we make the waste mountain smaller. That is better for the environment. We recover valuable raw materials for reuse. They are not incinerated with residual waste. The separated raw materials are used to make new products and materials.

Separating waste saves costs

Separating waste also provides financial savings: materials such as organic waste, glass, paper, textiles and metal are valuable. For example, we turn vegetable, fruit and garden (VGF) waste and food waste into compost, and it produces biogas (green gas) and heat. Recycling and reuse is less expensive than incineration. Burning these valuable raw materials together with residual waste is not only bad for the environment, it also costs more money.

Separated waste stays separated

Everything you hand in separately in containers and at the waste disposal site remains separated. The collected materials are reused wherever possible. For example, old glass becomes new glass, old paper becomes new paper and VGF waste becomes compost. This provides many environmental benefits. And recycling keeps the costs of waste collection and processing manageable.

You sometimes hear: 'Everything goes back into one pile anyway'. This is incorrect. Our trucks collect the same raw material each time. Only if collected material is badly separated, it cannot always be recycled properly. If there is too much residual waste with the VGF, paper or PMD, for example, then unfortunately it still has to go with the residual waste and is incinerated. That is very unfortunate because raw materials are lost. Less residual waste is important for the environment and for your wallet.

Test your knowledge with the Waste Separation Quiz

Styrofoam, an empty pizza box or a broken drinking glass. Do you know what belongs in which bin? Take the quiz and find out what you already know about waste separation. At the end of the quiz, you will receive tailored advice to increase your knowledge.

To the quiz

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What about waste charges?

The waste collection charge is a pass-through of the costs incurred by Waardlanden and the municipalities to collect and process waste. Waardlanden and the municipalities do their utmost to keep the costs of collection and processing manageable. Nevertheless, the costs are rising.
> Find out why here

Separating waste for recycling is something we do together

Together with you and the municipalities, we are committed to a circular society and economy. Where discarded products and materials do not go to waste by being thrown away and incinerated. And where we reuse as much as possible. In this way, we preserve valuable raw materials. And prevent waste. Many people are already aware of this and separate their waste. That is a good thing!

We help where we can by placing and emptying containers where you can separate your waste. And we transport collected waste and materials to specialised treatment plants for recycling. Of course, you can also come to us with questions about reducing waste and separating it even better.

> Meet our environmental coaches, they will be happy to help you with tips and advice

Everything in the right container. For the reuse of materials as raw materials, it is important that no contamination is added. Then the quality of the material remains as good as possible and it can be recycled. For this reason, many materials are collected separately, separated from residual waste. The main rule for separation at home is: clean and/or dry.

• Only vegetable, fruit and other food waste and garden waste may be put in the GFT container.
• Only glass bottles and jars are allowed in the glass container (packaging glass).
• Only clean and dry paper and cardboard may be put in the paper container.
• Only (empty) plastic and metal (cans) packaging and beverage cartons are allowed in the pmd.
• Only textiles are allowed in the textile container.

This sounds logical, but a lot of contamination is still found in the containers for these material streams. Plastic in the waste paper or GFT, for example, is very bad for the environment. By separating neatly, the sorting and recycling process runs efficiently. Little pollution then needs to be removed from the material stream before the material can be used again as a secondary raw material in a production process. And sorting costs remain limited, so separate collection also remains financially worthwhile. Because VGF, PMD and paper contaminated with, for instance, plastic or residual waste cannot be recycled for reuse. As a resident, you then pay for processing as waste but do not get any yield from the raw materials. Those who do not separate or separate badly are therefore driving up costs for themselves and their neighbours.

By separating waste properly and cleanly, we together - residents, municipalities and Waardlanden - keep waste processing costs manageable. And we work together towards a beautiful, valuable living environment.