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In the 21th century both the waste and product policies were further
elaborated. The waste policies developed in the 1980s and 1990s
formed the basis of the National Waste Management Plan first
issued in 2002. The plan introduced regulations for transboundary
transportation of waste and a minimum standard for the quality
of waste processing. So far, this standard has been anchored in
licensing, and it is expected to become more stringent. Through
a waste tax, the plan has also encouraged recycling activities.
Updates have gradually shifted the plan from a focus on waste
management to a broader life cycle approach. In 2008, when I
was Minister of the Environment, I introduced a chain-oriented
materials policy aimed at closing material loops. Additionally, I
actively promoted the implementation of regenerative design,
which is known as cradle-to-cradle 18 design. This type of design
tries to model industrial design after natural processes in which
materials are perceived as nutrients that are circulating in sound,
healthy metabolisms. Together with the chain-oriented materials
policy this cradle-to-cradle approach laid the foundation for a
circular economy by integrating policies on waste and products.
The next step in Dutch policy was the launch of the programme
known as From Waste to Resource (in Dutch as the acronym
VANG). 19 This document stressed circular design of products and
closing material cycles at local and global level. Launched in 2014,
the programme addressed both the reduction of material loss in the
waste stage and circular entrepreneurship within the framework
of circular economy. It created a boom in recycling and catalysed
efforts to meet the target of 75% separation of domestic waste by
2020. In addition, the programme encouraged innovative solutions
for sustainable production and consumption to take advantage of
18 McDonough, W. and Braungart, M., Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way
We Make Things, New York: North Point Press, 2002.
19 Ministerie van Infrastructuur en Milieu, (Ministry of Infrastructure and
Environment), Van Afval naar Grondstof; Uitwerking van Acht Operationele
Doelstellingen (From Waste to Resource; Elaboration of Eight Operational
Objectives), The Hague, 2014.