Around 80% of plastic bottles are now returned for reuse or recycling, a year after a deposit scheme began for small bottles, reports NOS.

Citing research from rubbish group De Zwerfinator in 66 municipalities, however, it says that there are still five plastic bottles discarded in every five square kilometre of public space.

A year ago, the government’s aim was that 90% of bottles would be returned, and Raymond Gianotten of Statiegeld Nederland, the deposit organisation, said he was ‘not unhappy with the results.’

A deposit of 15 cents is now payable on smaller plastic bottles, with the aim of reducing plastic waste in the environment from the 900 million bottles sold every year. When the policy was announced in 2018, around a ninth were being dumped.

However, some organisations told the NOS that the deposit should be higher, and it should be clearer which bottles should be returned and which cannot.

From next April, there will also be deposits on cans.