Status: 02.03.2023 9:45 p.m
Germany’s municipalities spend hundreds of millions of euros every year to dispose of carelessly discarded plastic cups and food packaging. Therefore, the manufacturers of single-use plastic should now pay for the disposal.
The Bundestag has decided on a special levy for products made of single-use plastic in order to relieve the financial burden on cities and communities when it comes to cleaning streets and parks.
With the law passed in the evening, the manufacturers of certain beverage cups, food packaging or cigarettes will in future have to pay into a state fund and thus contribute to the costs of disposing of discarded coffee cups and bags of chips. Fireworks were also included in the scheme.
Income totaling 400 million euros
The fee is based on the amount of plastic placed on the market in the previous year. A total of 400 million euros should flow into the coffers of the municipalities every year. The traffic light factions approved the draft law, the opposition factions CDU/CSU, AfD and Linke voted against it. The plastic levy still has to pass the Federal Council.
The law stems from a 2019 EU directive against single-use plastic pollution. EU regulations explicitly give member states the option to hold plastic product manufacturers accountable. The former Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) had already announced at the time that she would make use of it.
Municipalities: Regulation does not go far enough
According to their own statements, the cities and municipalities in Germany pay hundreds of millions of euros every year to remove single-use plastic from the cityscape and empty public waste bins.
The regulation therefore does not go far enough for the association of municipal companies (VKU). “In future, chewing gum, pizza boxes or aluminum trays should also be included in the manufacturer financing of municipal cleaning services,” said VKU Vice President Patrick Hasenkamp.
The economy, on the other hand, fears unnecessary burdens. Politicians must “show now that the actual design for the affected sectors is cost-efficient and fair, without causing unnecessary burdens,” said Antje Gerstein, the managing director of the German trade association responsible for sustainability. “As an economy, we have clearly spoken out in favor of a private-law model.” Unfortunately, politicians have chosen a different model.
Greens hope for “real circular economy”
Like the VKU, the German Association of Cities called for an expansion. “Whether the disposable waste is made of plastic, cardboard or aluminum makes no difference to the effort and costs of cleaning,” said Managing Director Helmut Dedy of the editorial network Germany.
For the environmental policy spokesman for the Greens group, Jan-Niclas Gesenhues, the law is only a first step. During the final debate in the Bundestag, he expressed the hope that “many further steps will follow in order to implement a real circular economy”.