Good practice:

Recycleservice 2025, a reversed waste collection system for residual waste with pay-as-you-throw

In 2018 – 2020 the new policy instrument Recycleservice 2025 was implemented in Apeldoorn in collaboration with local waste collector Circulus-Berkel.
With Recycleservice 2025, the city council adopted the national policy goals: 100 kg of fine residual waste per capita in 2020, 30 kg of fine residual waste per capita and a separation rate of 75% in 2025 and a circular economy in 2050. Every municipality in the Netherlands is obligated to collect waste, but is free to determine how they want to organise the way of collection: the waste management system, the service level, environmental impact and costs.
The key elements are: reversed collection with high service on separated resources and pay-as-you-throw for residual waste. Reversed collection means high service on recyclables (curb-side collection via wheelie-bins) and low service on residual waste (people bring it to drop off points). If people choose for a higher service on fine residual waste (wheelie-bin at home), they pay a higher waste fee and it can be emptied at notice.
A special collection service is offered to people who are physically unable to bring their waste to underground containers and financial compensations are for those who have medical waste (e.g. dialyses waste, ostomy bags or adult diapers).
Recycleservice 2025 was a breakthrough innovation for Apeldoorn citizens, so a strong communication effort, including organized mailing and meetings with citizens, was key to the successful implementation.

Apeldoorn has no external funding of financial resources. The total waste management service is funded directly by the citizens through waste taxes. Apeldoorn has a non-profit cost-coverage principle: the full costs of running the waste management policy and organization are fully taxed to citizens

The first results, after the implementation of the new policy in only half of Apeldoorn, are very promising. Coming from 123 kg fine residual waste per capita and 66% separation rate in 2017, going to 89 kg fine residual waste per capita and 74% separation rate. The national and local goal is 100 kg by 2020, 30 kg by 2025 and a separation rate of 75% and a circular economy in 2050. Reaching the 30 kg per capita will require innovation and other interventions.

The local and political situation and long-term investments are important factors. Stakeholder engagement and a communication strategy are important. Think about your financial structure of incoming taxes.

Depending on the objective another partner has, this total packages works for Apeldoorn. Each city is unique. The local and political situation and long-term investments are important factors. This is why it is not recommended to simply transfer or copy-paste this total system. This works in a waste management system where packaging materials (PMD) are separated at the source (households). This system works well in a medium-large city, which has already implemented and experimented with elements of the total system. The separate elements are also individually interesting and can lead to significant results.