Background
Amsterdam’s residents are fortunate enough to have the option of putting bulky waste out on the pavement for collection. The City collects it, sometimes monthly, or even weekly in some parts of the city. At the same time, the city has six waste disposal sites where residents can take their bulky waste. However, only 25% of bulky waste is brought to these sites, which means that we collect the other 75%. Bulky waste is effectively separated at the waste disposal sites but, although the bulky waste put out on the pavement is separated later, the separation rate is lower. In addition, bulky waste and other rubbish often accumulates on the street around underground containers, causing an annoyance for many people.
Amsterdam is beautiful… when it’s clean. The City’s ambition is to make Amsterdam cleaner and to get waste off the street – so that there is none remaining. At the same time, we want to use waste as a raw material and to re-use goods that still have some useful life in them (via recycling shops and even used construction material markets): the circular economy.
On 13 July 2016, the City Council adopted the Waste Implementation Plan (Uitvoeringsplan Afval). This plan stated that we would carry out a pilot scheme to collect bulky waste by appointment, and roll out the system throughout the city if the pilot was successful. This system is already in operation in the district of Amsterdam Centrum. The plan includes agreements with recycling companies that they may first collect any useful goods before the bulky waste collection service is sent in.
The City Council now proposes carrying out a pilot with DIFTAR (differentiated rates). This means that we will look at whether we can add pricing incentives by making the collection of bulky waste more expensive, or by offering a reward for bringing it in to disposal sites and separating it.
The City is looking for good solutions to organise this in a way that simplifies matters as much as possible for residents. Through what kinds of services or products, tailored to different target groups (possibly including pricing solutions and effective marketing ideas), can we encourage people to take their waste to waste sites? Part of the solution must include a simple way of channelling re-usable items to recycling shops.
Find a good solution to keep bulky waste off the street.
Criteria
Issued by: RVE Ruimte en Duurzaamheid
