The Dutch government is exploring the introduction of two taxes on single-use packaging: a plastic packaging tax and a collection tax on plastic beverage bottles and metal drinks cans.
Commissioned by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Ministry of Finance, CE Delft has examined how these taxes could be designed and what their potential impacts might be. The study considered effects on circularity, CO₂ emissions, collection rates, tax revenues, and the financial burden on businesses and consumers.
For the plastic packaging tax, we estimate that by 2035 it could increase the use of recycled plastic content by 5 to 20%. Recycled content refers to recycled plastic that is used again in the production of new packaging. The resulting reduction in CO₂ emissions is estimated at approximately 100 to 500 kilotonnes per year, while annual tax revenues are estimated at between 0 and 150 million euros. The plastic packaging tax makes it more economically attractive to use recycled content, thereby helping to ensure that the proposed European statutory 2030 targets for mandatory recycled content in packaging are achieved under the European Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR). The greater the use of recycled content, the lower the tax revenues.
For the collection tax on plastic beverage bottles and metal drinks cans, the impact on future collection rates is highly uncertain. By 2035, we estimate avoided CO₂ emissions of between 0 and 9 kilotonnes per year and annual tax revenues of between 0 and 65 million euros. This collection tax could contribute to higher collection rates by lowering the financial threshold for implementing additional collection measures. The magnitude of this effect depends strongly on the autonomous development of collection rates: if collection improves significantly without the tax, the additional impact is likely to be limited; if collection rates lag behind expectations, the tax could play a more substantial role.