From next year, citizens or municipalities dealing with drug waste dumped on their land will be able to recover a large part of the clean-up costs from the national government. Sources from The Hague confirm a report by RTL Nieuws in this regard.

Now landowners have to regularly reimburse the costs themselves, even if they have nothing to do with the landfill. The bill often ends up with the municipality.

The previous government has already set aside funds to compensate the victims, but this is far from enough because the actual costs are often much higher. At the urging of the House of Representatives, the cabinet is now presenting a new ordinance.

Private individuals are reimbursed for cleaning costs of up to 200,000 euros

The core of this is that private individuals involved in the illegal dumping of drugs (waste) on their property are reimbursed for all clean-up costs up to a maximum of 200,000 euros.

Municipalities and states pay a contribution of 50 percent for the first 50,000 euros and also receive compensation for the clean-up costs, also up to a maximum of two tons.

The national government also bears all costs in the event of serious contamination. If the dumped medicines are left lying around for too long, there can be consequences for groundwater, with potentially harmful public health consequences.