Netherlands: rules for single-use cups and food containers
What restaurants, cafés, canteens, offices and takeaway businesses in the Netherlands must do today, and what the PPWR adds. As of October 2026.
At a glance
The Netherlands implemented the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive more strictly than most countries. Both takeaway and eating in are covered. The key dates:
- 1 July 2023: takeaway businesses must offer a reusable option or fill customers' own containers.
- 1 January 2024: ban on single-use cups and containers containing plastic for consumption on the premises.
- 2026: the exception applies only if at least 85 percent are collected for recycling. The takeaway surcharge is no longer enforced.
- 2027: the collection rate for the exception rises to 90 percent.
- 12 February 2028: a reusable option for takeaway becomes mandatory EU-wide.
This guide summarises the rules in plain language and is not legal advice. The legal texts and your local authority are binding.
Netherlands: the single-use plastic rules
Eating in: reuse is the rule
Since 1 January 2024, businesses may no longer hand out single-use cups and food containers containing plastic for consumption on the premises. This includes paper cups with a plastic coating. The rule applies to hotels, cafés and restaurants as well as to offices, company canteens, schools, sports clubs, amusement parks and closed events.
The recycling exception
Single-use cups and containers remain allowed on the premises only if they are collected separately and recycled: at least 85 percent in 2026 and 90 percent in 2027. Businesses that use the exception must register with the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate (ILT) and keep records.
Takeaway and delivery
Since 1 July 2023, takeaway and delivery businesses must offer a reusable alternative, for example a deposit cup or container, or fill customers' own containers. The planned surcharge on single-use packaging is no longer enforced and is being abolished, but the reusable obligation remains.
Who checks?
The ILT enforces the rules. Businesses that neither switch to reusables nor meet the collection rates and register risk enforcement measures.
EU: what the Packaging Regulation (PPWR) changes
The PPWR (Regulation (EU) 2025/40) has applied since 12 August 2026 and applies directly in the Netherlands. Many of its rules for eating in are already in place there; for takeaway it makes the reusable option a firm EU obligation. Overview of all countries
From 12 February 2027: customers' own containers
Takeaway businesses must let customers have their own containers filled, at no extra charge and on conditions no worse than for single-use.
From 12 February 2028: a reusable option for everyone
For cold and hot drinks and for takeaway meals, a reusable packaging option must be offered within a working reuse system. It must not cost more than single-use, and it must be clearly advertised at the point of sale. By 2030, businesses should aim to sell 10 percent of their takeaway products in reusable packaging.
From 1 January 2030: bans for hospitality
Food and drinks served for consumption on the premises may no longer be offered in single-use plastic packaging. Single-use plastic portion packs, for example for sugar, coffee creamer or sauces, will also be banned for consumption on the premises.
Who is exempt?
Micro-enterprises under the EU definition, with fewer than ten employees and no more than 2 million euros annual turnover or balance sheet total, are exempt from the PPWR offer obligations. The Dutch rules continue to apply. For eating in, the Netherlands is already where the whole EU will be in 2030.
Checklist for your business
- Check where people eat and drink. Eating in, takeaway and delivery follow different rules.
- Switch eating in to reusables. The alternative is meeting the collection rate and registering with the ILT, which takes ongoing effort.
- Offer a reusable option for takeaway. A pool system or your own deposit cups and containers.
- Plan the return. Where do customers drop off containers, and who pays out the deposit?
- Accept customers' own containers. Set hygiene rules and brief your team.
- Check offices, canteens and events. They are covered by the rules for eating in too.
- Measure usage. Collection rates and reuse rates both need reliable data.
The bottleneck: returns
Reuse only pays off when containers come back often and quickly. In many businesses, returns still go over the counter: staff take containers back, check them, pay out the deposit and store them, often right in the lunchtime rush.
A return machine takes over this step. It recognises containers by AI image recognition, QR code or RFID, accepts them around the clock and pays out the deposit automatically. Because one CircleCube works with several reuse systems, you do not need a separate return point for each system. Examples in daily use are the Viktualienmarkt in Munich and the Mainz wine market.
Further reading.
Why returns are the bottleneck of reuse
Insights
Reusable packaging only works when containers come back. Most reuse systems lose time and staff capacity at the return.
One machine for all reuse systems
Insights
Return machines tied to one system leave guests guessing. A neutral machine takes back containers from several systems at one point.
Reusable returns at the Viktualienmarkt
Case study
A unified reuse system takes back cups and bowls around the clock at return machines on Munich's Viktualienmarkt.