Residents of major Dutch cities are bracing for mounting piles of rubbish on the streets as waste processing workers initiate a three-day strike. The strike, organized by the FNV trade union federation, will see waste processors in Amsterdam, The Hague, Rotterdam, and Utrecht refuse to accept waste.

While domestic collection services are expected to continue initially, the refusal of waste processing companies to accept new deliveries will soon lead to a halt in collections.

The strike stems from a protest against the government’s plan to impose a €567 plastic tax on the waste processing sector, rather than on companies that produce or use plastic.

The union argues that this tax will result in unacceptable cost increases for households and incentivize companies to send waste abroad for processing, ultimately threatening jobs and harming the environment. FNV spokesman Hanan Yagboubi stated that the tax unfairly targets waste processing companies instead of those responsible for the plastic problem.

The consequences of the strike are already being felt in Amsterdam, where dumped rubbish and litter are significant sources of complaints. Amsterdam’s finance chief Hester van Buren warned of a likely increase in “full containers, dumping, smell and litter” during the strike. The city’s waste processing company, AEB, is owned by Amsterdam.

Rotterdam will experience a complete halt in ordinary domestic waste collection during the three-day strike, though paper and glass containers will still be emptied. In Utrecht, the collection of organic waste will be affected.