Criminals cashing in on black market for non-deposit cans

Criminal gangs are earning millions by importing canned drinks to bypass the Dutch deposit return system.

The black market has sprung up since a compulsory 15 cent deposit was imposed on all drinks cans in 2023, as part of the Dutch government’s plans to cut waste.

The environmental standards inspectorate ILT estimates that up to 50 million illegally imported bottles are sold every year, often in restaurants and cafés that buy them from illegal traders.

In an echo of the Netherlands’ cannabis policy, importing canned drinks is outlawed, but buying and selling them after they cross the border is not, making the drinks attractive to outlets that want to avoid the cost and logistical burden of recycling thousands of cans.

Soft drinks are bought from Germany and Denmark, while beer is more commonly imported from Poland, all countries in the border-free Schengen zone.

The result is that the cans end up in landfill or as litter, hampering the government’s efforts to meet its recycling targets.

“It’s an illegal trade,” ILT acting inspector-general Edwin van Houten told EenVandaag. “They come into contact with organised crime because there is a huge amount of money to be earned from avoiding the rules. It runs into the millions of euros.”

Van Houten said the rules were difficult to enforce because only importation is illegal. In the last year 500 inspections were carried out and 90 companies were given warnings, but only five were fined.

“It’s a drop in the ocean and it costs a lot of capacity because we need to do far-reaching, deep investigations,” he said.