2023-09-25 07:04:01
55 cities and towns oppose the digital deposit project envisaged by the three Regions of the country. What exactly is it and why this outcry?
In Belgium, 55 towns and municipalities are blocking the digital instructions project carried out by regional authorities. Both Wallonia, the Brussels Region and Flanders are calling for the establishment ofa deposit on plastic cans and bottles, with a view to limiting litter.
But this laudable idea for the environment hides some concerns put forward by certain local authorities. Around fifty cities and towns fear the harmful effects to be expected. We take stock.
What is a digital deposit?
Last spring, under the leadership of its Minister of the Environment Alain Maron, the Brussels-Capital region approved the proposal to establish a deposit system for single-use beverage packaging (plastic bottles and cans).
The main objectives of the digital deposit are to reduce the quantity of litter while increasing the recycling rate of these products.
A project which, according to the report, can only be effectively introduced in a coordinated manner at the national level. Wallonia and Flanders have therefore joined the movement by also validating the idea, the main objectives of which are to reduce the quantity of litter while increasing the recycling rate of these products.
L’horizon 2025 is mentioned in the three Regions, according to the Alliance for the deposit, at the initiative of the letter addressed to the competent ministers. The modality is currently being tested in Flanders via an application.
Why are 55 cities and towns opposed to it?
The 55 signatory towns and municipalities are less opposed to the idea of an instruction in itself, than to thedigital application thereof. “The digital system is not accessible to everyone”, points out the Alliance for deposit – created in 2017, it brings together organizations, businesses, cities and towns to demand the introduction of a deposit on plastic cans and bottles. “Not all of our fellow citizens have smartphones, banking applications and the internet,” we read in the letter addressed to the three competent regional ministers Céline Tellier (Wallonia), Alain Maron (Brussels) and Zuhal Demir (Flanders).
“Not all of our fellow citizens have smartphones, banking applications and the internet.”
Also, local authorities are concerned regarding the workload that would result from a digital instruction. The measure will require the installation of “thousands of additional public trash cans for which (it will be necessary) to organize the collection” but also to manage and distribute “home-scanners for citizens who are not comfortable with smartphones and mobile applications “, they say in their mail.
“It will especially be the cities that will have to get to work, is that fair?” asks the Alliance. She pleads for “supermarkets and manufacturers to take their responsibilities” with a classic in-store return system for plastic cans and bottles.
“We fear that this digital deposit system does not have the desired effect on public cleanliness, is subject to fraud and violates privacy of our fellow citizens,” the letter also warns.
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