Wonderful explanation! One thing though you didn't mention is how to deal with leftover medicines. Some of those chemicals are quite dangerous to the environment. You are supposed to bring them back to pharmacy! No criticism, just a worthwhile addition to your video. :))
Hi Jovie, Just to let you know, you're supposed to clean the containers before putting them in the recycle bin (milk bottles, any food tubs etc) in a lot of cities throughout Europe and UK contaminated bins can be rejected . Also plastics can only be recycled so many times so it's still better where you can to not buy in plastic.
I'm so glad I found this video. We are also expats and lived in Amsterdam. Recycling was easier there and very easy but then we moved to a small town and recycling is not so close (15 minutes walk). We bought a lot of furniture from ikea for a whole house and we are left with so many boxes I feel like we will be recycling for the next two years 😂
useful info, thank you. we have in neighbourhood a second hand shop which takes for free anything used but in working condition so it is not a question what to do with old chairs and other furniture. then they sell it for some cheap price, after some renewal or repairment. anyway, everyone is happy.
Also of note for PMD: you can put in those yoghurt packages that have have a foil seal, but you have to remove the foil and put ir in seperately. Both the foil and the cup go in PMD, but they must not be attached.
At our region in the Netherlands near Boxmeer we recycled diapers for about 13 years or so. There are special containers for it to dump them. And the best thing it is for free, for all brands of Diapers. I was in the assumption that it was for all on Netherlands. On a side note, recycling is different for every region. Where I live we use blue bags for non recyclable stuff. Special plastic bags for the plastic and stuff. We have to bring the paper to a container, gft is in big green containers. Chemical waste can be disposed at the recycle stations.
if you want to cutdown the use paper required for advertisements and the plastic for wrappers, there are also apps available so you can watch all advertisements papers on your smartphone or tablet. Also if you find that the advertisements are unwanted by itself you can ask for a free sticker at the local city hall that goes on your mailbox. usually these stickers are yes/no or no/no stickers.
We actually have the main waste container for the PMD now and we have to bring the restafval (left over waste thats not recyclable and going to the incinerator) to an underground container a few hundred yards from our house. And instead of throwing away those airbags, ask around if there are friends or neighbours selling stuff online. They can use them again when sending packages.
Fellow American here. Just moved to the Netherlands and googled this topic because I need to take out the trash lol. I saw one of your videos a few weeks ago. Thanks a lot!
Thanks a lot for this ultimate guide! I was happy to deal with waste sorting manual in Dutch at my stay in NL this spring. But it was hard to understand using translate app. And our Dutch friends found it difficult to explain us so many details. Thus it remained a little "rocket science"-ish to me before I watched this video.
You can prevent recycling, if you do not want folders put a ja/nee sticker on your postbox, if you do not want the weekly free local newspaper, use the nee/nee sticker. Stickers free available at your municipality offices.
And instead of the paper folders you can download an app called Reclame-folder where you can find the same folders but the digital version. Saves so much paper.
Container colours depend on the city. E.g. where I live the PMD container is blue, so is the waste paper container (just for added confusion). Where my parents lived before their death the PMD container was orange. What goes into which container depends on your city, and can sometimes change without much of any notice as well (e.g. some years ago the city I live decided from one day to the next that styrofoam would no longer be allowed in the PMD container. Nobody was notified about that, and a lot of people got fined the first few times for putting it in the wrong container).
I like to add that in some parts of the netherlands some organisations like soccerclubs and churches also collect paperwaste. You just put the waste by the street and they collect it on a certain day.
What you call station is vuilnisbult; for fabrics, big wood pieces and old electrical devices, glass ect. The kringloop is for me next to it. So you can drop some things of so you don’t have to pay for your trash. The primairy school sometimes collects the paper because they can get money for it. So we don’t have a blue container. (this is in overijssel.) Some glass containers go in the PMD. Like the peanutbutter jar. Oh and our PMD container is orange. (because the plastic man from the commercial is orange) I didn’t knew about the paper bags in the green container tnx for mentioning it. Nice video!
No, a 'vuilnisbelt' is what Americans call a landfill. We had one near my house when I was a kid. It's now a hill with trees on top. The station in this video is called a 'milieustraat' in Dutch.
I don’t have a blue container, but once a month you can put your paper in a pile outside and the local sports club picks it up. They earn money for their club that way
Batteries you can bring to s store that sells batterys like 'zeeman' 'blokker'. Maybe also at the supermarkets but i dont know for sure. They have a box at the check out were they can put them in. Only normal batteries like aa aaa (bassicly every battery sort they sell) but not gigant special batteries.
In our local milieustraat bringing in asbestos is also free. You only pay for construction/demolishing waste, the non recyclable waste like couches, mattresses and car tires. They also have this huge weighbridge. They will weigh your car before and after you dumped the waste you have to pay for and you can dump the free stuff after the second weighing. And you forgot to mention the clothing containers where you can dump old clothes, bedsheets etc. And often old shoes as well.
I was surprised how many waste we produce that's plastic since they begun to collect that separate. Sometimes I don't set my normal bin to empty because there's hardly anything in it.
The compost bin has been really important for us! It took me a while to get used to it but now I love it. Are you an avid composter? And YaY for Canada being badass as usual.
Jovie's Home yes i try my best to compost anything that can .. however I find some friends and family mêmbers don’t .. because at their home they don’t compost cause of smell Or grossness.. which is kinda sad that they can’t find a solution for the small inconvenience and help the environment
An empty chip bag is residual waste, NOT PMD, although many people think so. This is because there is an aluminum layer on the inside of the bag. Cannot be taken off and that is why. Beside that, great video, thanks :)
Asbestos can be brought in for free, but you need to have paperwork for it. It's heavily regulated. You first have to apply online for an asbestos removal permit. Just fill in where it comes from, and when you are planning to remove. Your local municipality will either tell you: fine: here's a disposal form to take with you when you bring it in (and you have to package it properly), or they tell you: you cannot do that yourself, you need to get professionals to do it for you.
What about those plastic takeout packages that prepared meals come in at the grocery stores here, do we need to clean them out before putting them in PMD? And for soiled paper like napkins and pizza boxes, I’m guessing those go in the compost bin with the other scraps? Last one, what about a soiled metal oven tray, like a frozen pie crust or a reheatable lasagna tray from the store or something?
You are as Dutch as my granny, already.... Thank you for being so positive about my country. Just don't be sorry for your President. You choose him, accept live.
Some mistakes about GFT in this video: I took a look at several websites about GFT and there were some contradictions with this video. 1. The biodegradable bags. Also called biologisch afbreekbaar or composteerbaar. You should not put any plastic in the GFT container. Biodegradable plastic takes about 12 weeks in a special compost installation for it to turn into compost, while the GFT waste wil only stay in there for one or two weeks. So even biodegradable plastic will come out still looking like regular plastic. Therefore it will be taken out and put in the regular waste. 2. Dog and cat waste. Or dog and cat poo. This should also never go into the GFT container. It contains too many germs, bacteria etc. that can make humans or animals sick. Even after composting. And if that goes into the compost there is too much health risks for animals when it ends up in nature, or for humans when it is used in vegetable gardens. 3. Paper bags. These should go into the waste paper and not in the GFT. 4. Tea bags. There is too much plastic in tea bags. Therefore they cannot be composted and they should go in the regular garbage. Same goes for coffee pads. Loose tea and coffee and coffee filters can go into the GFT waste.
Thanks for this! I also researched quite a bit before this video and am sad to hear that there is so much conflicting information out there about what can/cannot go in the gft. Can you please give me the links to your research so I can include it in the description?
@@JoviesHome I've found information on: www.avri.nl/inwoners/afval/afvalinzameling/waar-hoort-mijn-afval/ and: www.milieucentraal.nl/minder-afval/welk-afval-waar/bioplastic/ These are websites specialised on recycling. There were some more but I didn't save them. In a different comment I said that egg shells shouldn't go in the GFT container but apparently that's was wrong. According to one website (which I couldn't find again) some of the rules have changed at some point. Including those for egg shells and tea bags.
Heyy, really nice video! I'm a student and live in a studio and I don't have a big container outside, only a small bucket (from the municipality). This bucket has to stay in my studio (one room in which I sleep and eat). I was wondering if it is hygenic to leave the GFT trash in the brabantia bucket you have for a week? Or would it contaminate other food? They pick up the GFT trash here every week. Do you have any recommendations?
Great Video Jovie! Always fun and informative content. :) I was curious if you can do a video or section of a video on the different types and affordability of services from an expat’s perspective.. TV service, the content that’s available vs US + cost.. internet service + cost, mobile phone service options + cost. What about Hollywood movies in the theaters? Are they in Dutch w/ subtitles? Anything cool or different about these things vs the US. Thanks and keep up the great content!! 😊
@Sean Hosein Mostly all English spoken movies/tv shows etc are broadcasted in the original English language and subtitled in Dutch. Only programs for young children are often synchronized.
In Utrecht, the Afvalscheidingsstations don’t even check your identity, but in most places you do have to show you’re a resident of *that* municipality. The Gemeente pays for them, and for the disposal of the waste, so they prefer giving that service only to the people they’re getting funding for, and not for random other people. This is especially true for small Gemeentes alongside bigger ones - if only a small percentage of Amsterdammers were to go to Gemeente Uithoorn to get rid of their waste, because it’s more convenient or Uithoorn doesn’t check passes but Amsterdam does and you’ve been doing so much trash generation that Amsterdam thinks you’re probably a commercial enterprise so you should pay... well, that’d be a pretty big financial problem for Uithoorn. The other way around, well, as long as you know that the places around you have decently working and convenient stations, there’s not gonna be that many people moving trash all the way to your big city, so you can often just take the hit in exchange for not having to set up the whole waste identity management stuff - at least for a while. The thing about these things and scent is, they don’t take regular “grey” trash or GFT, and as such the waste is basically all dry stuff, and therefore it (mostly) doesn’t rot (or attract seagulls and rats), in the way that a landfill would. As far as landfills go, we used to have a few, but I think almost all of them have been closed by now (there’s usually a park on top, because you wouldn’t really want to build there). We basically don’t have the room to put them anywhere. Not when you consider how far away you need to be from a place like that before it’s acceptable to live there in the 21st century, anyway. waste-management-world.com/a/landfill-a-victim-of-dutch-success Most Afvalscheidingsstations that I’ve seen also have a container from the local Kringloopwinkel/Emmaus/whichever where you can donate stuff. It’s good for the kringloop as well because anything they can see immediately they will never be able to sell (like, CRT televisions...) they can throw straight into the relevant trash container, without having to pay to have it taken away from their place as trash.2
Thanks for this comment! At my Afvalscheidingsstation, there are containers where you can bring "grey" trash but unfortunately no Kringloop container. This is such a great idea! I'm going to message them now and suggest it! Thanks for watching and contributing to the conversation :)
Brabantia is a classic brand of high end ... let’s say homewares. Their classic models include garbage bins (especially ‘keukenemmers’), holders for kitchen rolls, holders for spare toilet rolls (and the in use roll), bread bins... originally most of their products are rolled sheet steel based. Plastic is a relatively recent addition.
@@JasperJanssen I would be surprised if you had not seen it. When I was a kid in the late seventies and eighties you couldn't enter a house that didn't have any of The Brabantia kitchen furniture. Even if it was just a small stool.
That was awesome and I loved the link to the video showing how the plastic is recycled! One question, I'm very new here and wondering where you get that waste card that you mentioned to access the locked bins?
you get that from the town hall, when you register as a citizen in your city and you pay for it and its use, partly with your local taxes and some when u use it - which helps u to be concious about it usually houses have their own containers, if u live in an appt you will have access to this underground containers in your neibourghood
Well actually .. ahem... as someone highly proficient in all sorts of garbage industries my colleagues and myself have been calculating and saying all along that central collection with only minimal seperation and then industrial seperation is far more effective , something for example the city of Rotterdam recently discovered and after first having placed pdm containers and whatnot, now reverting to central mixed collection to now start seperating centrally, its a 80% efficiency, which given its just households that "try it" seperation vs 99.999% and with a lot less effort, it also is more efficient on Co2 to have one type of garbage truck instead of several etc etc, It's a political thing where non specialists who make decisions choose something that "feels good" and "shows off" but which in practice is just not worth doing, the problem was and is never the households, take CO2 for example 80% of the human component in that is transport; not consumer level; household consumers amount to about 2% of total with industry a good second, making it 0 sense to focus on households and all sense to reduce centrally... but i won't fault you on knowing about pdm's other plastics, theres still plenty reason to not toss plastic in nature and all
Our family is hoping to move to Netherlands in Spring 2020 ( fingers crossed!). Your videos are very informative, esp for someone moving from the States. Thanks a lot! I was wondering if you shipped your belongings from the USA. If so which provider did you use?
Hi! I'm so glad you are enjoying my videos and finding them useful. When I moved here, it was with two suitcases and not much else so unfortunately, I cannot recommend a shipper. Do you have Facebook? There is a wonderful group called "Amsterdam Mamas" there and if you ask to join, you'll be able to ask questions and get a wealth of information/help from the group. BTW, you don't need to live in Amsterdam to be part of the group. As long as you'll be in NL, it should be fine.
@@gert-janvanderlee5307 No idea! My husband will start looking for a job by the end of 2019. We are really hoping he gets one!! Being in IT, it should be in one of the bigger cities :)
You can't make a video like this for the whole of the Netherlands. It is different in each municipality, and even between different neighborhoods or streets within a single municipality. There are no National guidelines.
You will probably never read this comment, but in case you do.... What do you think of saving up bottle caps for service dogs? It's something that is done in the Netherlands but I don't know if it's a ''big'' thing.
@@JoviesHome , geleidehond.nl/pagina/steun-ons/kom-in-actie/doppen-sparen?gclid=Cj0KCQjwjYHpBRC4ARIsAI-3GkH7zOP3wtl4YsGqp6-eQXcvtvFXHRmaV4CAXiFPOqwF65aSAs8fTJ4aAgYzEALw_wcB There is all the info ( in dutch) I save up for half a year to a year and then bring it to one of the locations. I hope you like this way of charity , have a nice day!
It is often a local or regional initiative. An other example is that schools -especially in the countryside-, collect old newspapers and carton. People collect this at home and e.g. every 2 months it is collexcted by the roadside by volunteer parents , easily filling a 20 ft ( 6 meter ) container to the top. The revenue is for the support of various schoolprojects, excursions., christmas celebrations etc ( in short for extras ).
Hi! Thank you for such a helpful video- just gave you a follow on Instagram as well. I recently moved to Netherlands from Seattle and I wanted to know where does one throw sanitary waste- like tampons and pads. Is it the grey dustbin? Is that the same called as a household dustbin? What color liner/bags does use for those bins? It’s so confusing out here.
Hey miss jovie,your disposable containers are absolutely beautiful compared to ours in my country may be the place doesn't even smell.really your countries are far developed a hundred times than ours.really you guys care about the nature l have had the way you have described everything in the video.....only us maybe God gave us corruption.
You know, in your country life is exceptionally difficult for the majority of people. There are so many other, more urgent issues that need solving, so it makes sense that the money is not being spent on recycling. But I hope that this video inspires those who do live in NL (or other countries where they can recycle) to do more of it. It's so easy to just "throw it away" but that's hurting our planet and future. Thanks as always for watching. I appreciate you.
Re the Suez sorting machine video: 99 Percent Invisible recently did a podcast episode on the recycling industry of the US, and in it I noticed that the sorting facilities they visit in the US - west coast, I think SF area - bought their giant sorting machines from France and the Netherlands. 99percentinvisible.org/episode/national-sword/
In the video, at the end, you can see that the Disposal Centre has a container for 'Elektra' - there's a fridge, a computer... Small things, like mobiles, can go to shops that sell them (there's a previous comment about it).
0:26 I think Daan was a little trigger-happy. 2:47 You did well with those words. 9:05 I love the interaction you engaged in at this point. I remember Hannah Witton doing something similar, or...should I say Hannah's editor doing something similar with her...? Anyway, it was in this video: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AQTH3EIaEv4.html I will say that the editor made the text a bit too small for my taste. 14:49 I don't know if that's what it's called, but your pronunciation was good. 15:11 See what I said 2 lines up. 15:32 "Didn't *see*," Daan. 17:28 Oops! 18:58 I use diapers, so I feel your pain.
You may not put anything about meat or fish into the greenbin! Not even when there is not really meat in it anymore but you have scooped out the fish of meat out off a stir fry or something. That may NOT go into the green bin !! And in my town we are only allowed the green plastic garbage bags tgat the grocery stores give for free and that you can close. We are not allowed to use any other plastic outer bags
Hi Laura, in my town meat and fish are permitted in the gft bins (www.milieucentraal.nl/minder-afval/welk-afval-waar/groente-fruit-en-tuinafval-gft/). Your grocery stores give the green bags for free?! We must buy them and they are expensive 😅 Thanks for watching! 🧡
Jovie's Home thanks for answering Jovie! Strange that these things differ between cities! Even the bags 🤔. But thanks for letting me know. I am also a real recycler ! Good video!
@@creativecheersoffashionlau7364 I know how you feel😒 I give you an example for Belgium. In Brussels you are not allowed to put in the organic bin...bones, nuts, fish bones. But in Spa (Francochamps) you are allowed.
Your welcome😄 ( even in het nederlands bij mij halen het gewoon op we zet dan de container aan straat komen het ze met een vrachtwagentje leeg maken om de zo veel tijd bij bijna iedereen dat is alleen dus voor de oranje grijze en groene container blauw hebben we niet we gebruiken gewoon oude grote dozen en doen daar oud papier in zetten dat dan buiten neer aan straat)( ben redelijk slecht in Engels vandaar dat ik het in het nederlands zet)
You can bring in small amounts by yourself in The Netherlands too. You just have to wrap it in plastic really good. I've done it a couple of times. It's usually free too. They don't even check it. Just mention the word "asbest" and they won't come anywhere near you.
Stukjes die ik zelf verwijderd heb: eterniet bloembakken Een windscherm in de tuin bestaande uit ijzeren T-profiel met aan de onderkant eternietplaten, boven glas. Daarbij heb ik de stukken met glasplaat eraf geslepen en het stuk met asbest integraal ingepakt en afgeleverd.
paper is anything cardboard, paper, boxes and news print, plastic (containers ) is more like containers drink containers, tin cans, bottles, plastic containers, plastic bags etc..
@@JoviesHome ah thanks for letting me know! love your videos (especially the house buying ones given the fact that I've been recently considering buying my own home!) keep up the great work!
you kan use any plastic box dat you have at home. icecream box is goed and or as a lid. I have a little bucket from de Action. You have to find something that Works for you
hi, i live in sweden, we use similar system tip? i bought this in wood, www.ikea.com/nl/nl/p/trofast-opbergcombinatie-met-bakken-wit-groen-wit-s99228551/ bought the colored boxes, and it fits in my hallway, of course theres not organic there, but the rest are, i have different sizes, smallest for batteries/bulbs/led, biggest for plastic we also sort paper n cardboard separate edit:(of course i bought the shelf used for 30€)
That's one thing I don't do... I have one big Grey bin and really everything goes into that big Grey bin. And if it doesn't fit, I'll make it fit. The only recycling I do is bring back empty bottles Cola to the supermarket. Because I want my deposit money back from those bottles.
NOOO Martijn! You have the chance to recycle plastic and glass and paper and make your food scraps into compost! Please consider trying to reuse or recycle some of it.
I have a grey bin for GFT and regular waste, and a green one for paper. I pay for putting it out and having it collected, and if I want a GFT bin, I have to pay an extra fee too. I'm on my own, it takes me months to even fill up the grey bin with Gft and regular waste, so I'm not getting a GFT bin. Bit tight on money ^.^" My town does offer pick up for paper, glass and PMD waste, no bins for those last two. I bring the paper away myself, so I can dispose of it for free. I could use the bin for that, but I would have to pay to have the waste collected, and the underground waste container is close by. Same for glass, there are big underground containers for that too, so I don't use the collect option, and PMD has to be offered in a big plastic yellow bag that you can get for free at 'het gemeentehuis'. If the collection was for free, I wouldn't mind having to pay to have an extra bin. But I'm not going to put it out for collection every week if it costs me 7-8 euros per bin I put out, while I barely have enough in there to cover the bottom... And waiting until I fill those bins up, means they'll start smelling. To show how little waste goes into my grey bin; I moved here in February, and I've only put the bin out once, and it wasn't even entirely full then (I didn't know yet I paid per collection) and other neighbours put some of their waste in mine too O.o I had been taking layers upon layers of wallpapers of the walls, and that was 3 quarters of what filled that bin then. I'm going to have to put it out this week because I did some work in the backyard and had some waste from more renovating after the move, otherwise I could have waited a few more months. I have a 20L bin inside the house (it takes 20L bags), and it takes almost a month to fill that up.
@@AnataWaDareDesuKa here we have multiple container but we only pay for grey / waste to be collected other are free of charge , ask at city hall , they can tell if its free or you need to pay for empting it
