We spoke in the Flemish parliament in favor of the deposit system on cans and plastic bottles
We have spoken, the public hearings are finished. The Flemish parliament has 4 months left to formulate an answer to our questions. And on the other hand parliament has to reply as well to the proposal for a resolution of Groen en Vooruit with the same demands, the introduction of the deposit system and more reusable packaging.
A decision is expected to be made before the end of the year!
Besides us, Bond beter leefmilieu, Recycling netwerk Benelux and the farmers’ union made a strong plea in favor of the deposit system. And a Dutch civil servant explained the positive results after one year of the deposit system in the Netherlands.
Fost plus, Comeos and Fevia, not surprisingly, spoke against the system. Lots of time was spend to explain how good their system of trash collection works and words like ‘global approach’, ‘intelligent system’, ‘innovation’ and behavioural change’ were used dozens of times. Comeos outrageously even dared to say that the deposit system would punish the citizens. They want to continu with more awareness raising and more cleanups with citizens. They also explained their preference for a digital deposit system for which you need an app on your phone linked to your bank account and with which you should have to scan every bottle and can before throwing it away while scanning your trash bin at the same time. Would you? They presented it as a solution for the ease of use…
Comeos at one point said that one party was missing at the hearing, the citizens themselves. They clearly missed the first hearing the day before, our presence represented 15.700 citizens who singed our petition.
Ovam explained that there is no trend to be seen in the litter data. Starting with lots of litter in 2015, today it didn’t get better or worse. All this time, industry was given the opportunity to make it better, that didn’t happen.
And VVSG (Flemish cities and communes) made a clear demand for a change with the deposit system as only credible solution.
Fingers crossed! We will keep you updated. Next stop is the Brussels parliament.
We would like to thank everyone again for sending your signatures, thanks to all participants of our kayaking trips, to the Canal It Up team, to Regine Florent, Gents MilieuFront – GMF , Klimaan , Marc Kayak, Proper Strand Lopers, Gezondheidswinkel de vrije natuur and everybody we forget to mention.
Full hearings can we watched here:
Find out here how we got to speak in parliament.
Also watch the video we made to show that the industry’s proposal to introduce a digital deposit system can never work. It won’t reduce litter. What would happen is that the status quo would be preserved.