Sitting in, you can ask for a reusable cup: the 0.25-euro takeaway surcharge is only advised, and it goes in 2027

On 4 September the Human Environment and Transport Inspectorate, the ILT, served McDonald's Netherlands with a last onder dwangsom: if nothing changes the chain pays 625,000 euro per breach, up to a ceiling of 3.75 million. The trigger was not what it sells but the fact that it hands eat-in customers disposable cups containing plastic. Since 2024 food and drink consumed on the premises of Dutch hospitality venues, offices and schools may not be served in disposable cups or containers with plastic in them; reusable is the standard, and the only exception is single-use plastic collected separately for recycling. The ILT says McDonald's complied for six months and then went back to the disposable cup, and the chain now promises reusable cups from early 2027. For anyone living here the rule is usable today: sitting down in a cafe, you should already be handed a reusable cup, and the takeaway surcharge is a separate column.

• The eat-in side: in hospitality venues, offices, schools, sports clubs and closed events, disposable cups and containers with plastic in them may no longer be handed to customers, and the single exception is single-use plastic that is collected separately and recycled. (source 1)
• The takeaway side: taking food away or having it delivered carries a meerprijs on top. The government only advises the amounts, 0.05 euro for pre-packed vegetables, fruit, nuts and portion packs, 0.25 euro for a cup and 0.50 euro for a meal, and the business decides what it actually charges. (source 2)
• That surcharge disappears in 2027: customers will no longer pay extra for takeaway, but the separate obligation to offer a reusable alternative stays in force and does not lapse with it. (source 1)
• The penalty in this case: 625,000 euro per breach to a maximum of 3.75 million, with McDonald's promising reusable cups from early 2027. The ILT opened the investigation after an enforcement request from the environmental organisation Fair Resource Foundation. (source 3)
• The volume involved: the chain's 260-plus Dutch outlets hand out 175 million drinking cups a year, 80 million of which go to customers consuming on the premises. (source 3)

The sum you can fill with your own numbers is printed on the receipt: cups taken away per week, times the amount on that line of your receipt, times 52. That is what you paid extra over a year. At the advised 0.25 euro, three cups a week is 39.00 euro a year and five cups a week is 65.00. But 0.25 is only advice and the business may set another figure, so the first move is not arithmetic, it is finding that line on the slip and reading what it actually says. Not finding the line is an answer in itself.

The second sum is the ratio between the two big numbers: 80 million divided by 175 million is 46 percent. Nearly half the cups the chain hands out in a Dutch year go to people sitting down. That share explains why the rule is not about a stray cup here and there but about close to half the volume, and why the inspectorate treated it as something worth a penalty rather than a reminder.

The third thing is the deadline, and here the official pages do not give you enough. The Rijksoverheid page says only that the rules for disposable cups and containers change in 2027; it does not name the day the change takes effect. So the total you can still save by bringing your own cup can only be written with an unknown in it: months left until the surcharge ends, times cups taken away per month, times the amount on that line. Only one half is certain, and it is that the duty to offer a reusable alternative survives the change.

For newcomers the boundary between eating in and taking away is the easiest thing to get wrong. Sit down and the rule governs the cup itself: it should not be a disposable one containing plastic, unless the venue collects it separately for recycling. Take it away, or have it delivered, and the cup may be disposable but you pay extra. So the sentence to say at the counter is not can this be cheaper but I am drinking it here, and that one sentence moves you out of the column that pays a surcharge into the column that should already be handed a reusable cup.

Hokimi field note: next time you buy a coffee, keep the slip until you are out of the door and read it once. If it says you were eating in and still charged a disposable-cup surcharge, at least one of two things does not add up: either that cup should have been reusable, or the charge belongs to the takeaway column. The inspectorate went in on a formal enforcement request; the version an ordinary customer meets is far simpler, which is to ask at the counter first rather than treating it as a question you cannot raise.