The German government has brought in a controversial packaging ordinance which their Environment Minister described as the 'final departure from the throw-away society.'
The most important provisions require that:
- Producers and retailers have to accept for recycling and disposal all returned transport packaging.
- The consumer can leave all used packaging material at the point-of-sale.
- From 1993, retailers must accept all used packaging material returned by the consumer. To encourage the consumer a mandatory deposit of DM 0.50 will be levied on all drinks, detergent and dispersion paint containers. To date, deposits have only been charged on refillable glass bottles and plastics drinks bottles, the latter levy hitting French mineral water producers hardest.
- By July 1st 1995, 80% of packaging waste must be collected; and of this collected material, 90% of glass and metals must be recycled, and 80% of the remainder. Incineration, even if used to generate power, is ruled out.
400 German companies have set up the Duales System Deutschland (DSD) which runs its own waste-collection system, with companies' products carrying a green dot if they have paid between 1 and 0 pfennigs per item. The green dot indicates that their packaging can be recycled by the DSD.
Potsdam and Endenich, a suburb of Bonn, have been chosen as guinea-pig areas, but the group's ultimate intention is to provide every household in Germany with a separate bright yellow dustbin for recyclable packaging. Until that can be organised, the plan is to provide at least one huge bright yellow dustbin for every 500 homes in the city or 200 homes in the country.
British exporters to Germany say that the cost of complying with this new law will run into millions of pounds, and that such unilaterally imposed rules represent a barrier to trade and to the EC single market.