Extended Producer Responsibility–Exemplary Executions and Progressive Implementations Part II–GERMANY
Germany was the first country to formally set up and implement EPR once its definition included a dedicated waste management stream for household packaging waste. In the 30 years since then, the EPR system and channels have been modified multiple times and have simultaneously seen significant growth and development.
The Verpackungsverordnung, or Packaging Ordinance, was the legal framework for EPR, initially passed in 1991, by Das Kabinett Kohl IV with approvals from both the Bundestag and Bundesrat.
Through multiple amendments, DSD, an operator of a dual system* known as Der Grüne Punkt (The Green Dot in English), lost its monopoly over waste separation and waste prevention. DSD was first incorporated in 1990 and its non-profit dual system emerged in 1991 right before the Packaging Ordinance came into force.
On 1 January 2019, Verpackungsverordnung was replaced by Verpackungsgesetz (Packaging Act) with a focus on recycling.
The driving motives of the Packaging Act are to enforce the obligation of registering with the Central Office as well as the obligation of licensing in a dual system. The Act states that failure to comply with the obligations stipulated could result in a complete sales ban along with fines of up to €100,000.
On 20 January 2021, Germany’s Federal Cabinet approved a new Draft Law transposing the Single Use Plastics Directive (EU-Plastics Directive 2019) and the Waste Framework Directive into the Packaging Act (VerpackG).
With the 2022 amendment to the law, further regulations came into force on 1 January and 1 July 2022. Now, there is an obligation to pay a deposit for all one-way beverage containers without any exception whatsoever. Furthermore, the obligatory recycling rates were increased, such as that of composite packaging and beverage cartons. Also, all manufacturers were mandatorily made to register all packaging (categories, types, and numbers) in the central register LUCID since 1 July.
It has also been sanctioned that from 1 January 2022, there will be a minimum recycled content sales ban on PET bottles containing less than 25% recycled plastics, and from 1 January 2030, there will be a sales ban on all one-way beverage bottles containing less than 30% recycled plastics.
*Dual system - On behalf of industry and trade, the task of a dual system is to organize the nationwide collection, sorting, and recovery of used packaging subject to system participation and to document the fulfillment of the recycling targets in accordance with the law.
