Green groups, local councils and other organisations in the Netherlands and Belgium have joined forces to campaign for the introduction of deposits on all plastic bottles and on cans.

In total 21 organisations, including the North Sea foundation and Weert local council in Limburg, have joined the fledgling Statiegeldalliantie which wants the Dutch and Belgian governments to widen the use of deposits.

They hope the campaign will show there is broad support for the introduction of deposits on PET bottles and on cans than just among environmental groups and argue widening the deposit scheme will reduce waste, rubbish collection costs and harm to animals.

‘Deposits encourage people to bring back their empty bottles and cans,’ the organisers say. ‘That leads to less litter, fewer problems for animals, lower clean-up costs for local councils and the improved recycling of valuable materials.’

In 2015, the Dutch government tore up an agreement with the packaging industry to end the current system of deposits on plastic bottles.

The industry argued there would be major cost advantages if deposits were scrapped but the cost savings, in a report commissioned by the industry, were later shown to be exaggerated.