Dual Track Governance for Plastic Recycling in the Netherlands

Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) assigns producers financial responsibility for post-consumer plastic packaging waste, but in practice has prioritised cost-efficient waste management over systemic circularity. As a result, incentives for upstream changes in product design, material use, and plastic reduction remain limited. In the Netherlands, these shortcomings have become increasingly evident in the recent crisis in plastic recycling, driven by low prices for virgin plastics and imported recyclates. This paper examines how shortcomings in the Dutch EPR system can be addressed through a Dual Track Governance (DTG) approach that combines ecosystem orchestration by Producer Responsibility Organisations (PROs) with coherent government policy packages. Drawing on multiple sources (30 interviews, 9 workshops, reports and analysis of policy events), we propose four complementary policy packages: (1) Minimum recycled-content requirements for plastic packaging that apply to individual brand owners, combined with a tradable credit system for recycled-content use and mandatory information disclosure requirements, (2) (government supported) value chain initiatives, (3) EU trade measures targeting low-cost plastic (recyclate) imports, and (4) strengthened eco-modulation of EPR fees. Jointly these policy packages help to break the gridlock of three hurdles: lack of recyclates demand, high costs (creating a competitive disadvantage) and lack of innovation and investment. A novel aspect of the paper is that it explicitly considers the politics of coordination and limits of knowledge about policy effects into the design of policy mixes.