Attention, environmentalists and compulsive juice drinkers! ⚠️ Albert Heijn will introduce a voluntary deposit on all plastic bottles. Hoera, plastic recycling!
At the moment, customers can only deposit juice bottles where water or sugar was added. To avoid any unnecessary confusion, Albert Heijn wants to make it just a little easier for everyone, reports NU.nl.
Controverseries in the recycling industry
A recent investigation by Recycling Network Benelux (RNB) of Albert Heijn and Jumbo revealed that the supermarket giants did not include a deposit on bottles of 100% pure juice, but did secretly add sugar and water to them. How scandalous! 😱
The Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) ruled that the supermarkets violated this rule and must ask for a deposit on bottles that contain added water or sugar.
Deposits no matter what
Albert Heijn decided that they will charge a deposit on all plastic juice bottles, regardless of their size or contents. They argued that sometimes customers can’t tell whether their drink has added sugar or water. So, why not make it easier on them and just add the deposit to all bottles anyway?
Henk van Harn, Albert Heijn Director of Merchandise, says this decision is better for everyone — customers don’t have to second-guess whether they can deposit their bottles and more plastic bottles can be collected and recycled. Definitely seems like a win in our books. 😁
READ MORE | Recycling in the Netherlands: an international’s guide
An Albert Heijn spokesperson said this measure will come into effect “as soon as possible”, but it depends on Statiegeld Nederland (the organisation that handles bottle deposits).
The organisation must determine if Albert Heijn’s decision meets some requirements for introducing this deposit. If all goes well, we could be seeing deposits on all plastic bottles from Albert Heijn very soon!
What do you think of this new rule for bottle deposits? Tell us in the comments!