Asking citizens to separate their plastic waste from the rest of their rubbish is more expensive and less efficient than separating the waste after it has been collected, trials in Limburg province show, reports the Telegraaf on Thursday.

Separating out waste plastic after collection by using special machinery saved almost €6m across 16 local authority areas, local council official Jan Bormans told the paper.
The late separation method also delivers more recyclable plastic than if households do it themselves, the trials show. Households collected an average 6.3 kg of plastic waste per person, but using the other system generated between 19 kg and 21 kg per resident.
Local councils have been required to collect separate plastic waste since January 10 and were given the choice what method to adopt.