Senate asks governments in Belgium to quickly introduce deposits on bottles and cans

Environmental organisation Recycling Netwerk is therefore delighted with the near-unanimous vote in favour of the resolution proposed by senators from sp.a, MR, CD&V, Open VLD and Groen.

The ball is now in the court of the Belgian, Walloon, Brussels and Flemish governments to make a decision and tackle plastic pollution. The Senate requests the governments in Belgium to, among other things:

“evaluate the means to limit pollution from plastic originating from textiles”

“carry out a life-cycle and risk analysis that clearly indicates in which phase of the production and consumption chain plastics are lost into the environment”.

“quickly introduce a deposit on beverage packaging of the PMD type, with identical rules for the entire territory” (point 13)

Point 13 of the resolution is very concrete and can genuinely reduce litter and plastic pollution in the short term. The study released by the Dutch government in August of this year looked at the best available international data and confirms that deposits decimate beverage packaging in litter. This is also already evident in practice in Norway and Germany. Malta and Scotland also decided this autumn to introduce deposits on beverage packaging.

It is also good that the pollution caused by textiles releasing microplastics is being examined. But there are other sources of plastic pollution that must also be tackled. We ask for:

a ban on microplastics in cosmetics and detergents at Belgian level;

a ban on microplastics in paint;

addressing microplastics originating from car tyres;

A requirement of at least 60% recycled content in plastic packaging;

an integrated approach that ensures products and product systems no longer lead to the pollution of the environment with plastics.

The resolution was approved on Friday afternoon with 34 votes in favour. The parliamentary groups of PS, SP.A, MR, Open VLD, Ecolo-Groen, cdH and CD&V voted in favour. Most N-VA senators abstained. N-VA senators Jan Peumans and Piet De Bruyn, along with two other party colleagues, did vote in favour.

The authors of the resolution are Bert Anciaux (sp.a), Alain Destexhe (MR), Cindy Franssen (CD&V), Martine Taelman (Open VLD), Katia Segers (sp.a), Annemie Maes (Groen), Elisabeth Meuleman (Groen), Sabine de Bethune (CD&V) and Güler Turan (sp.a).

Steven Vanackere (CD&V) is chairman of the competent committee. Groen senator Annemie Maes was rapporteur and submitted numerous amendments.

Read the full text here: Proposal for a resolution to protect the environment and the North Sea from pollution of marine litter and to limit the presence of polyethylene microbeads in cosmetics (by Messrs Bert Anciaux and Alain Destexhe et al.), No. 6-324/1.