More drinks in glass bottles, to-go coffee in deposit cups, and less take-away food in cardboard boxes: Because the amount of packaging waste in Germany has been increasing almost steadily for years, Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke (Greens) wants to promote reusable packaging with a new law. Retailers should have to offer these in more cases than before, giving consumers more freedom of choice. Lemke published corresponding plans on Tuesday; they will now be debated in the coalition until the cabinet decides on a first draft in the autumn.
According to the Federal Environment Agency, more than 230 kilograms of packaging waste per capita were generated in Germany in 2020 – there are no more recent statistics. That “pollutes the environment and annoys most consumers,” says Lemke. One reason for this is the large amount of to-go packaging, which the Green politician now wants to curb – also in order to meet the EU requirement to reduce the consumption of single-use products made of certain plastics by 2026. Your plans in detail:
Sale of drinks: In the future, every larger supermarket that sells drinks will have to offer at least one product in packaging that can be used more than once – according to Lemke’s plan. This applies to one type of water, beer, soft drinks, juice and milk. With this new regulation, however, the minister does not go as far as some environmental protection associations, which call for a binding reusable quota for manufacturers, would like to see. According to the Ministry of the Environment, the proportion of reusable beverages is currently around 43 percent – far less than the 70 percent actually prescribed by law.
returnable bottles: In the future, all shops should have to take back all types of returnable bottles – that makes everyday life “very concrete,” says Lemke. However, as with the sale of drinks, there is an exception for shops that are smaller than 200 square meters.
Food and drinks to go: A new regulation came into force at the beginning of the year: Since then, companies have had to offer a reusable alternative to plastic disposable packaging. The problem is that some fast food chains or delivery services have simply switched to cardboard or aluminum packaging to avoid this obligation, reports the environmental protection organization Greenpeace. For three months, she had put a platform online on which violations could be reported. Lemke now wants to close this gap by extending the obligation to offer reusable products to all materials. So then customers could always choose what kind of packaging they want. However, Lemke wants to continue to exempt small kiosks or snack bars from the obligation.
Fast Food Places: According to Lemke’s plans, anyone who buys a burger or a piece of pizza and eats it on the spot should no longer get it in disposable packaging.
deceptive packs: Lemke, who is also responsible for consumer protection in the federal government, considers this to be a major annoyance. She wants to make it illegal to “reduce the contents of a package if it stays the same size”. That, too, will save packaging material and at the same time “avoid customer deception,” predicts Lemke.