The interest group for all municipalities in the Netherlands, the Association of Dutch Municipalities (VNG), is putting an end to the contract with Verpact. Verpact is the organization that arranges waste processing and payment on behalf of the industry. The two parties have been at loggerheads for some time due to the rejection of a significant part of the separated PMD waste (plastic, metal and beverage cartons) by residents. Sometimes up to three quarters of the collected waste is rejected. All this rejected waste is then incinerated, resulting in additional costs for municipalities.

Reason for termination In a recent letter to its members, the VNG stated that the contract will not be extended due to insufficient cost-covering reimbursements from Verpact for waste collection. Moreover, there is a lack of transparency about the reasons for the frequent rejections. In most municipalities, residents separate their waste at home, after which municipalities take it to a transfer location for inspection. The contract with Verpact states that a maximum of 15 percent ‘pollution’, such as PVC or empty paint cans, may be contained in the waste. However, rejections have increased significantly in recent years, according to municipalities. If a load of waste is rejected, it is still incinerated, resulting in no compensation for municipalities. Instead of waste collection generating money, municipalities have to pay for this environmentally polluting incineration and the raw materials do not return to the market. This results in additional costs and increases in waste charges for residents. Since Verpact is responsible for many of the inspection locations, the organization is therefore seen as responsible.

Consequences of termination The ‘Packaging Chain Agreement 2020-2029’ would be automatically extended for five years as of January 2025. Due to the termination of the VNG, new negotiations will now have to be held since Verpact and VNG are condemned to each other. State Secretary Vivianne Heijnen is currently looking for an independent mediator to get the parties back on track. Although Verpact does not want to deviate from the 15 percent standard for ‘pollution for PDM waste, municipalities and Verpact both have the same goal in mind. Moving towards a circular economy as quickly as possible by realizing clean collection flows of packaging waste.