The decision to scrap deposits on large plastic bottles from 2015 was largely based on a report containing erroneous information, the Volkskrant reports on Wednesday.

Research published on Wednesday by environmental research group CE Delft says the cost analysis was wrong and that some costs associated with collecting deposit bottles were ‘systematically increased’.

The drinks and packaging industry lobbied hard to have the deposit system on bottles bigger than 0.5 litres scrapped, saying there would be major cost advantages.

Costs

However, the CE Delft analysis shows the cost of collecting deposit bottles is 50% lower than the original report claimed. The report was commissioned by Tomra Systems, which produces the automated bottle collection machines.

The CE Delft report puts the cost of the deposit system at three cents a bottle. The earlier report, by the University of Wageningen, put the cost at 5.9 cents. That report was commissioned by the drinks and packaging industry.

‘We should be keeping this, the best possible system, and one which the Netherlands has rightly been proud of,’ director René Hissink told the Volkskrant.

Integrity

Tomra Systems is planning to make a formal complaint to Wageningen’s academic integrity committee, he said. Wageningen disputes the new report’s findings.

The recycling lobby group Recycling Network has also criticised the decision to ditch the system.

‘The deposit on plastic bottles is a collection system with the highest possible response, the least pollution and most profit for the environment,’ the organisation told the Volkskrant.