Statiegeld bottle deposits could double next year, says Dutch inspectorate

The Dutch Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) is pushing for the country’s poor return rate on bottles and cans to be boosted. Starting next year, the statiegeld deposit could be doubled, or alternatively customers would be given a bonus for returning their items. 

Statiegeld in the Netherlands could increase to 30 cents

The ILT is putting pressure on Verpact, the organisation representing producers and retailers, to take measures to boost returns, after years of rates failing to meet the 90-percent target set in law. 

According to documents obtained by AD, ILT has given Verpact two options to incentivise higher return rates: either raise the deposit by 15 cents (taking it to 30 cents for small bottles, and 45 cents for large bottles), or keep it at 15 cents and offer a “bonus” on returns. With the second option, customers would still pay a 15-cent deposit, but get back 30 cents when they return the bottle. 

If Verpact fails to take action by January 1, 2026, the ILT says it will impose a penalty of 1,5 million euros per day. However, Verpact has appealed to the Council of States for a pause while the details are hammered out. 

505 million euros in unreturned deposits since 2021

ILT argues that the current system offers a “perverse incentive”, whereby the less packaging Verpact collects, the more deposits are not refunded, and the more income the organisation has. Indeed, between July 2021 and December 2024, the organisation reportedly collected more than 505 million euros in revenue from unreturned deposits. 

ILT says the fines are needed to incentivise Verpact to increase return rates. Verpact, on the other hand, has argued that increasing the deposit will lead to people buying fewer soft drinks. 

Only around 77 percent of bottles and cans are returned

Since the statiegeld system was extended to small bottles in 2021 and cans in 2023, the return rate has repeatedly fallen short of the target of 90 percent. In 2024, the rate was just 77 percent, leaving approximately 139 million euros of deposits unreturned. 

ILT has argued that businesses were not sufficiently prepared to start collecting more returns when the system was expanded, resulting in long lines at the existing return machines in supermarkets. In 2024, Verpact was issued with a penalty and now has until 2027 to add an additional 5.400 collection points. 

The case will come before the Council of States on Thursday, November 20. If ILT wins, bottle deposits are likely to go up at the start of 2026.