According to the German Plastic Packaging Industry Association, Germany is doing well when it comes to recycling plastic packaging and contributes only slightly to the pollution of the world's oceans with plastic waste. 80 per cent of plastic waste in the sea comes from Asia. Awareness of the problem needs to be raised there in particular.
Plastic packaging should be regarded more as a raw material than as waste. The Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK) is in favour of this. „One thing is clear: plastic packaging does not belong in the sea,“ emphasises IK Managing Director Ulf Kelterborn, but adds: „Plastic packaging first and foremost has an important function. It protects the packaged product from damage and spoilage and therefore from being thrown away.“ Kelterborn commented on the international „Coastal Cleanup Day“, which was held on 16 September and focused on the pollution of the oceans with Plastic waste drew attention to it.
Ulf Kelterborn, Managing Director of the Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK), advises that plastic packaging should be seen more as a raw material than as plastic waste.
More than 50 per cent of plastic packaging in Germany is already being disposed of via the Dual systems is recycled. The rest is incinerated and converted into energy such as District heating converted. This in turn saves fossil fuel. The new Packaging Act, which comes into force in 2019, will lead to an even better recycling rate.
Plastic waste in the sea („Marine Litter“) comes 80 per cent from Asia, according to the IK. Sustainable collection and recycling systems still need to be established in this region. Germany could be a role model for this. The IK is also involved internationally and, like 69 other plastics associations, has signed the Joint Declaration on Solutions of Marine Litter.
The fact that plastic waste is also being discharged into the sea in Germany is due to Lack of environmental awareness among individuals due to this. Awareness of the problem must be raised. The IK has produced brochures and film material for this purpose and is also involved in the Federal Environment Ministry's Marine Litter Round Table, including in the working group for awareness-raising.
The IK Managing Director rejects the reduction of plastic packaging: „If plastic packaging is no longer used or only used insufficiently, the economic and ecological damage would be immense.“
