Thrift store De Groene Sluis planned to open a branch in Dronten, but the municipality refused permission to start a recycling shop in the building it had found. The municipality said the shop did not fit the existing environmental plan and economic policy. The store already operates in Lelystad, and its organisers had arranged volunteers and begun collecting goods. The initiative’s director said other locations were unsuitable because they were too small or too expensive. Volunteers collected support in recent weeks, and the organisers planned to present the municipal council with a petition containing more than 1,000 signatures on Thursday evening in a final attempt to secure permission, possibly temporarily.