Minimum standard for assessing recyclability

(July 26, 2019) The value and marketability of material components should be given more consideration.

According to §21 of the new packaging act, which came into force on 01.01.2019, licensing fees for packaging by dual systems have to consider not only waste prevention but also packaging recyclability in future.

The Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister has submitted a draft developed in consultation with the Federal Environmental Agency and has given the stakeholders concerned the opportunity to comment in a consultation procedure. From the perspective of the aluminum industry, the draft sets a suitable framework that still has to be implemented by the dual systems.  

 “An infrastructure for sorting and high-grade recycling of all aluminium packaging and packaging containing aluminium foil is already available in the market place. This ensures that the valuable aluminium contained in mono-material or composite packaging is not lost but returned efficiently and in a resource-conserving manner to the material loop,” explains DAVR’s managing director Hans Jürgen Schmidt.

 “However, a purely quantitative consideration of the recyclable material content should be extended to include consideration of the intrinsic value and marketability of material components in order to reproduce the real-world economic and ecological added value situation during the post-use phase,” adds Schmidt. 

"In addition, it should be noted in principle that packaging is used for efficient product protection and transport, with high ecological relevance." 

The consultation draft of the minimum standard for assessing recyclability and a press release are available on the website of Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister.