Germany imposes 80-90% recycling target by 1995
GERMANY’S FEDERAL cabinet has passed the environment ministry’s regulations on recycling used packaging (ECN 12 November). The new legislation means that by January 1993, 50% of all packaging, regardless of composition, will have to be recycled.
The much-criticized legislation also imposes a second target of July 1995, when 80% of plastics, glass and paper and 90% of all other materials will have to be recycled. Plastics will have to be sorted according to polymer.
Packaging materials, including plastics, paper, glass, aluminum and tinned sheet iron, will have to be collected separately by January 1993.
The environment ministry had originally imposed a target date of July 1992 for 50% of packaging to be recycled, but the deadline was moved back when the industry complained this was unrealistic. However, environment minister Klaus Topfer did not accept the plastic producers’ argument that they should be allowed to incinerate some of the waste, from which they could generate energy.
German consumers will be provided with incentives to participate in the recycling system. Between April 1992 and the start-up of the dual collection scheme in 1993, shoppers will be encouraged to deposit excess packaging in retail outlets for collection. The government will also raise the mandatory deposit on plastic beverage containers from 30 pfennig (US 20 cent) to 50 pfennig in 1993.
Also in 1993, the deposit scheme will be extended to plastic containers for detergents, cleansers and water-based coatings. The environment ministry has indicated that it will drop the deposits if recycling is successful.
German plastics companies have been reacting to the new laws. Hoechst chairman, Wolfgang Huger, recently criticized the government’s plans, pointing out that recycling technology is still in its infancy. He suggested that ‘an ecological balance sheet’ must first be drawn up before ambitious recycling plans are pursued, adding ‘recycling should be a means to an end, not a purpose unto itself.’
BASF chairman, Jurgen Strube, said the obligation to take back packaging should go hand-in-hand with the approval of recycling plants, and remarked that ‘thermal recycling’ is ‘indispensable’,
Hoechst is building a 5000 tonne/year recycling unit for polyolefin's in Knapsack, near Cologne (ECN 19 November). BASF said its activities are focused on automobiles, in finding methods to recycle plastics from fuel tanks, bumpers and hub caps. Bayer also recently announced a process for recycling cross-linked polyurethane's. The three firms have this year established a joint recycling venture, EWK, to promote recycling research.
Germans slam recycling laws
GERMAN DETERGENT manufacturers have joined plastics producers in criticizing the federal environment ministry’s new regulations on recycling packaging wastes (ECN 26 November).
Among other stipulations, the new legislation calls for a 50 pfg (US 31 cent) deposit to be imposed on disposable packaging of detergents and cleansers if manufacturers have not succeeded in setting up a functioning collection and recycling system for packaging by 1993.
The detergent industry association, Industrieverband Korperpflege-undWaschmittel (IKW), said it sees these rules as a ‘clear discrimination’ of its branch of the industry. The same restrictions are not applied to food packaging, the association noted.
Also, IKW said the target date leaves ‘too short’ a time for implementation of the legislation and has called on the government to make ‘substantial alterations’ in its plans.
Germans close to recycling laws
GERMANY’S FEDERAL cabinet was expected to pass the environment ministry’s controversial legislation on the recycling of throwaway packaging as ECN went to press last week.
Federal minister for the environment, Klaus Topfer, has threatened to require retailers to take back empty packaging for recycling if the private sector does not provide a suitable collection plan and recycling targets.
The ministry’s draft has been revised several times after a number of disputes with industry, which considers many of the proposals unrealistic. Industry has also criticized Bonn’s emphasis on material recycling, as opposed to incineration.
In the latest proposals, a separate collection target of 50% is set for all materials including plastics, glass, aluminium, paper and tinned sheet iron as of 1 July 1992. By July 1995, these materials must be recycled. Topfer would like to see a recycling rate of 90-100%.
The recycling scheme is part of a dual waste disposal plan which aims to reduce the amount of waste ending up in German landfills.
This waste disposal plan calls for private industry to collect recyclable materials, while the public sector will continue to collect and dispose of normal household wastes.
Source : European Chemical News, December 17/24, 1990
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