CBL wants a national pooling system to mobilize deposits

Amsterdam (ANP) – There should be a national collection system for bottling beverages with deposit. This should promote the transition to a circular economy, says the Central Food Trade Agency (CBL), the umbrella organization for supermarkets. This requires separate and unoccupied collection kiosks in supermarkets, gas stations and train stations, for example.

The purpose of the kiosks is to remove batch beverage packaging from the supermarket and other types of packaging can be collected and recycled in the future. There is actually a deposit on certain types of glass, such as beer bottles, large and small plastic beverage bottles. From January 1, 2023, there will be a deposit on the cans. CBL director Rene Rorda says the CBL wants to “use the deposit on the cans as a counterbalance to the circular economy”. According to Roorda, there are two billion cans circulating in the Netherlands that can be recycled.

Rorda says similar systems of unmanned collection kiosks for bottling drinks already exist in the United States, Asia and some European countries. “You can instantly remove your packaging in a drone kiosk and get paid instantly. There are tech solutions for that.” Dutch customers currently receive their deposits at the supermarket via a receipt.

Insufficient capacity

Supermarkets still charge collection fees, but according to Rorda, that hardly covers collection costs. “The collection now costs us tens of millions of euros a year,” he says. “For the same money, we have a system that works well.” In addition, the national collection system will provide “valuable retail space”. “You can use that for other things later,” Rorda says.

The umbrella supermarket organization says supermarkets don’t have the capacity to eat cans in the future. In addition, non-sealable cans cause hygiene problems, because beverage residues are often left behind. CBL also finds it “daunting” that cans can only be returned to supermarkets, while cans can be sold everywhere.

The umbrella organization will present the plan to Secretary of State Stephen Van Weinberg for Infrastructure and Water Management on Wednesday.

Learn more about the topics in this post:

Kiosk, US, Glass, Economic System, Supermarket, Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Deposit, Recycling