Festival season is back in full swing. Paid festivals like Mysteryland, Lago Lago and Wildeburg, as well as public events like Pride and the Nijmegen Four-Day Walk: everywhere, plastic bottles and cans are happily clinking against each other. Because there is some drinking going on, from soft drinks to something stronger. And those drinks often come in containers with a deposit. Fortunately, at more and more festivals you can hand these in directly. Saskia walked with the promotion team of Statiegeld Nederland during feest op de Ring, Amsterdam's one-off birthday party on the A10, to make partygoers aware of handing in deposits and donating as much as possible to charity: the Heart Foundation.
Collect those returnable bottles and cans
In cooperation with Deposit Money Netherlands
At home, we usually collect our empty bottles and cans neatly in a bag or crate. That goes pretty well. But outdoors, at busy festivals and events, it is a lot harder. You want to get rid of your bottle or can right away - get it. And so it often ends up in a bin with residual waste - or worse - it ends up on the ground or in nature. To do something about this, Deposit Money Netherlands has set up deposit machines at all kinds of festivals this summer. Promotional teams are also walking around collecting bottles and pointing people to the possibility of donating their deposits.
I myself was at the party on the Ring - Amsterdam's birthday party, which was celebrated on the A10 in honour of its 750th anniversary. A unique setting with hundreds of thousands of revellers in a place where cars normally race. There, plenty of use was made of the deposit machines, the eye-catching donation bins ánd the promo teams with their collection carts. But I also saw how many bottles and cans still ended up among the residual waste, or were carelessly left at the crash barrier. A shame, because that deposit could have been put to good use. Watch the video here!
In more places in the Netherlands, you will come across (permanent!) deposit machines like these bulk machines at the Retourshop and Droppie. Here you can dump all your bottles and cans in one go, the machine counts and processes it and you get your deposit back. Bekijk hier de video over de Retourshop. En als je benieuwd bent naar Droppie? Bekijk dan deze video even, want ook daar zijn we geweest!
Deposit machines in other places too
By the way, you won't only see deposit machines at festivals anymore. They appear in more and more places. For instance, Deposit Money Netherlands recently opened two so-called return shops - in Amsterdam and Rotterdam - where you can hand in up to a hundred bottles and cans in one go. You then get your money back immediately via a Tikkie, in cash or by donating to charity. You can read more about the Return Shop in this article. We took a look at the opening. Recycling shop Droppie is also rapidly expanding. This trendy collection point can now be found not only in several locations in Amsterdam, but also in cities such as The Hague, Utrecht and Rotterdam. At Droppie, you can dispose of much more than just deposit packaging: from cartridges and pans to old mobile phones, small electronics and your bottles and cans. With the bulk return machine, it takes no time at all. And yes, we also visited Droppie for an extensive review - definitely check it out if you have one nearby! In short: returning deposits is getting easier and more fun, whether you're at a festival or just walking around town. So do you see such a machine or promotion team? Make use of it. You help the planet, a good cause and your wallet. Win-win-win!
See more on Deposit Money Netherlands.
More deposit tips
- Also see: handy solutions to make it easier to collect your deposits at home.
- Also see: Why a deposit machine sometimes ejects a broken or dirty can.
- Also see: which is a more sustainable choice: a deposit can or bottle?
- Also see: CleansDay: the street party where you pick up trash instead of leaving it.
Photo credits: thegreenlist.nl.
