VDe Vector

The Netherlands replaces more than 25 million tiles with greenery

The NK Tegelwippen announces today the final result of the latest edition of the nationwide greening campaign.

According to the NK Tegelwippen counter, the Netherlands has replaced more than 25 million tiles with greenery. The campaign is compiling the final result today and announcing the winning municipalities; the counter stands at 25,305,598 tiles across all editions.

The latest edition of the NK Tegelwippen ran from 19 March to 31 October. So far, the organisation has registered 4,827,062 tiles removed in 2026. According to the campaign, the figures are still being checked and counted, meaning the final result may differ from the current counter.

The initiative encourages residents to replace tiles in their front, back or façade gardens with, for example, grass, flower beds, trees or façade gardens. Municipalities compete in various rankings for the most tiles removed. According to the campaign website, the campaign is organised by creative agency Frank Lee and made possible in part by the Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management and the Leven met Water coalition.

The organisation links the removal of paving to climate adaptation. Green gardens can allow rainwater to infiltrate better than completely paved surfaces and provide more cooling on hot days. These are general effects of greening; the counter itself measures only the number of reported tiles, not how much water nuisance or heat stress has thereby been prevented.

The water authorities also consider more greenery in gardens relevant to water management and biodiversity. They point out that plants and trees can retain water and that green spaces provide habitat for insects and other animals. The size of the effect depends, among other things, on the design, the soil and the local water system.

The 25 million tiles are not a measurement of one continuous green area. They are registered tiles removed in different years and in various locations. A tile may also have been part of a small private garden or a larger municipal project.

The campaign began in 2020. According to a campaign overview, 1.5 million tiles were registered in 2021, 2.8 million in 2022, 4.5 million in 2023, 5.5 million in 2024 and almost 6 million in 2025. This overview shows that the number of registered tiles grew during those years.

The question behind the milestone is therefore not only how many tiles disappear, but also what replaces them and whether that greenery continues to be maintained. The tile counter provides no insight into that maintenance or into the nationwide effects of greening; it shows how many removed tiles have been reported.

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