Surrendering industrial waste

Published by:
Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO
Netherlands Enterprise Agency, RVO

In the Netherlands, you must surrender industrial waste to authorised collectors or authorised waste processors. Authorised collectors transport the waste to authorised processors. You can find the authorised collectors in the database of transporters, collectors, dealers and brokers (VIHB list, in Dutch) provided by the National and International Road Transport Organisation (Nationale en Internationale Wegvervoer Organisatie, NIWO).

If your industrial waste is similar to household waste, you can have it collected by the municipal authority. You also may transport it to the drop-off point of the municipal waste disposal site in your municipality. For this service you will have to pay collection charges. Keep in mind that the municipal authorities are not obliged to accept these types of industrial waste.

If you dispose of waste, you must keep a record of the details of that waste. Read our Checklist for separating company waste or use our Company waste separation tool to learn more about disposing of company waste in The Netherlands.

Delivering and testing waste materials at landfill sites

If you take waste materials to a landfill site, you must provide information about the composition of the waste. This information includes:

  • the source and origin of the waste
  • the process that created the waste
  • the treatment applied to the waste
  • where applicable, the hazardous properties of the waste

Information on the leaching of the waste may be compulsory as well. This could mean that the deliverer or the landfill site manager has to test the waste.

Port reception facility for ship’s waste

If you visit a port with a port waste reception facility in a seagoing vessel, you must deposit your ship’s waste at the facility before you set sail once again. This rule does not apply to vessels that have sufficient storage space to bridge the period until they reach the next port (that port must then have an adequate reception facility for ship’s waste). It is illegal to discharge waste and solid bulk materials from seagoing vessels. Food and cargo residues are exempt under certain conditions. All ships of 100 GT (Grosse Tonnes) or more must have a garbage management plan.

Port waste plan

As a seaport administrator, you must draw up a plan that states how you will collect and process waste from ships. You must submit this plan for approval to the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management. You also need to keep a record of the quantity of waste that you collect. You must keep this record for a period of 5 years.