environment
Recycling quotas for packaging met
The packaging waste from private consumers is recycled to a large extent. Photo: Robert Michael / dpa-Zentralbild / dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
More and more packaging waste is generated in Germany. But the recycling system is also making further progress. Experts are demanding more responsibility from manufacturers in terms of packaging design.
The amount of recycled packaging increased again last year. In 2020, a total of around 5.8 million tons of packaging from private end consumption was recycled – an increase of 8.4 percent compared to the previous year.
This is based on figures from the Central Packaging Register Foundation (ZSVR), which were published on Thursday in Berlin together with the Federal Environment Agency. This means that the dual systems would have achieved the legally prescribed recycling rates. The dual systems are responsible for the collection, sorting and recycling of used packaging and are obliged to report the corresponding quantities to the ZSVR.
The quotas have been achieved, primarily because of the great progress made in packaging designed for recycling. «Marketing has discovered ecological packaging. If it is the recycling-friendly mono-packaging that also saves material, then the minimum standard has had its effect », said Gunda Rachut, board member of the foundation responsible for the ZSVR. However: “If it is a material composite that is difficult to recycle and only suggests ‘eco’ with its brown color, then that is a dead end in terms of the circular economy.”
The Federal Environment Agency therefore appealed to manufacturers to further check their packaging and systematically optimize it ecologically. Despite the positive news, “the remaining challenges are still huge,” said Bettina Rechenberg, department head at the Federal Environment Agency (UBA).
“In terms of packaging design and packaging disposal, we believe that it will be decided in the next few years whether a transition to a real recycling management in the packaging sector will succeed.” In this context, the Federal Environment Agency is calling for significantly more reusable packaging, for example for mail order and “to go” consumption.
“The direction is positive: the Packaging Act has initiated the necessary developments,” said Rachut. “For unavoidable packaging, there is no longer any excuse not to design it as a future resource.” The Central Office for the Packaging Register in Osnabrück is a foundation. As the authority, it has been responsible for more transparency and control in packaging recycling since the beginning of 2019.