Designing for Sustainability: The Netherlands

Many neighborhoods in Amsterdam have a system of sidewalk bins that feed into underground containers. Residents sort their trash and recyclables and dispose them here.

Would this ambitious waste and recycling project work in the US? The Netherlands aims to become a completely waste-free by 2050.

During a summer trip, I was intrigued by the organized rows of metal recycling bins in Amsterdam. While recycling and waste management might not be the most glamorous aspects of a country's infrastructure, the Netherlands is making it a priority—and if it’s effective, that’s something truly commendable.

Street level and underground waste containers can be found throughout Amsterdam. 

In many neighborhoods in Amsterdam, household waste should be sorted by type and put into the correct designated containers. In other areas, household waste is collected by the City. 

Textile recycling bins in Amsterdam with instructions for disposal in English and Dutch.

In Amsterdam, residents sort their waste and put their waste or recycling in the correct container, and it falls into a huge underground storage unit.

What happens to what’s in the bin? Once your recycling is sorted, the materials are usually recycled in the Netherlands or elsewhere in Europe. Non-recyclable waste goes to an incinerator or a landfill—these incinerators produce electricity that is put back into the power grid for hundreds of thousands of Dutch homes. 

At a Dutch supermarket, you can get some money back for returning plastic soda bottles, glass beer bottles and cans.

For more information on what’s happening in the Netherlands, check out the Amsterdam government website with all the details: https://www.amsterdam.nl/en/waste-recycling/

Would this ambitious waste and recycling project work in the US? Would you use these waste bins? And when is recycling really “wish cycling.”

You can also read about this topic on my LinkedIn post.