Reporting soil contamination

Reporting soil contamination and degradation

You must report activities that may contaminate or degrade the soil to the provincial or municipal authorities. This includes activities that (may) lead to:

• erosion
• increased density
• salinisation

Do you detect soil contamination or degradation? Or do you use substances that affect the structure of the soil? You must report this as well.

Are my business activities soil-threatening?

Do your business activities cause soil-threatening substances to be released into the soil? You must take preventive measures. The Netherlands Soil Protection Guideline for Industrial Activities (NRB) describes if and how businesses need to take these measures. You can determine if your activities are soil-threatening with the step-by-step-plan (Stappenplan NRB) in part 3 chapter 2 of the NRB (see pdf, in Dutch).

Soil survey before your start soil-threatening activities

Do you perform activities that pose a risk to the soil? Do you for instance work with soil-threatening substances? You must have an approved soil broker (in Dutch) carry out a soil survey before you start your business activities. This soil survey will record the soil quality at the time (baseline survey). If you end your activities, you must have another soil survey carried out (final survey).

Does the survey show that the soil was degraded or contaminated by your business activities? You must have the soil quality restored (remediation). For instance, by having a recognised company carry out soil remediation or move the contamination.

Online application procedure via Message Box

You can report soil contamination or degradation also via Message Box. Message Box is a secure email system that enables you as an entrepreneur to exchange digital messages with Dutch government agencies.