EenVandaag reports. <\/a>In these crowded areas, city sanitation workers are forced to replace broken bins and clean up surrounding waste on a daily basis.<\/p>\nThe rising costs stem from people searching through trash to collect deposit bottles and cans worth 0.15 cents each. With the introduction of deposits on plastic bottles in 2021 and cans in 2023, littered containers became a form of street currency\u2014transforming city bins into what some call \u201cgold mines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dirk Groot, widely known in the Netherlands as the \u201cTrashminator\u201d for his national efforts to document and clean up litter, told EenVandaag that the system has worked well to reduce roadside waste but has brought major problems in cities.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, the roadsides were full of bottles and cans. There are still people who throw them out, but since the introduction of the 0.15 cents deposit, that trash became worth money. Since then, I find about 80 percent fewer bottles and cans,\u201d Groot told EenVandaag.<\/p>\n
But in urban centers, he added, it\u2019s a different story. \u201cYou can see where it goes wrong\u2014like here at this metro and bus station in Amsterdam-Noord. These are hotspots where lots of people come together. We all eat and drink on the go now,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd then you\u2019re already glad if they throw it in the bin at all. Many people think: I bought this can for 2.50 euros, who cares about that 0.15 cents deposit?\u201d<\/p>\n
Many of the city\u2019s public bins are now larger to accommodate increasing waste, but that reportedly creates new issues. \u201cYou can\u2019t reach into them easily to fish something out, so some people force them open\u2014and that causes a lot of trouble,\u201d Groot told EenVandaag. \u201cThere\u2019s a sticker that says you should return your bottles and cans, but where to? There\u2019s no return machine here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though reverse vending machines were promised at train stations, they never appeared, Groot said. \u201cWhere are they?\u201d<\/p>\n
He also pointed to the unchanged deposit rates as part of the issue. \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been an inflation adjustment in 20 years. The 0.25 cents deposit on large bottles has stayed the same since 2002. Some people think: I\u2019m not going out of my way for that small amount.\u201d<\/p>\n
According to Groot, some of the people digging through trash bins\u2014often individuals at the lower end of the socioeconomic scale\u2014are performing an unofficial public service. \u201cLuckily, people on the margins of society are helping keep things a bit clean for us. But with those broken bins, they\u2019re creating a new problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other practical issues make the situation worse. \u201cYou often see bins taped shut with duct tape. But birds can still get in, rats climb in. You could easily secure them with a magnet lock instead. That would solve it. No need to break anything.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another point is the garbage collection schedule. \u201cBins are usually emptied early in the morning. That\u2019s not ideal. It would make much more sense at the end of the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Groot believes solutions should come from Statiegeld Nederland, the organization overseeing the deposit system. \u201cThey\u2019re sitting on more than 400 million euros paid in deposit money that was never refunded. A huge amount! Let them use that money to buy proper bins for the big cities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThey need to invest much more in collection technology,\u201d he added. \u201cNot just in funny stickers or cute ad campaigns with Donnie.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Netherlands\u2019 deposit scheme for cans and plastic bottles is costing the four largest Dutch cities an estimated…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-281171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114893952316617327","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/281172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}