The German Association for Waste Management has commented favourably on the German government's plans for its own recycling label. The German government is providing 600,000 euros for the development of the label. It is intended to indicate the proportion of recycled or secondary raw materials in products and thus help consumers when making purchases.
The aim of the Federal Government is not only to support consumers in their purchasing decisions, but also to provide assistance for public procurement, favour the purchase of products made from recycled or secondary raw materials. The DGAW welcomes these endeavours.
For society, a circular economy is only achieved when the primary raw materials in the products are replaced by so-called secondary raw materials. For the DGAW, the separate collection or weighing of waste in a recycling plant alone does not constitute a circular economy. The company has therefore been calling for years for a Substitution rate to make the circular economy measurable. This measure by the Federal Government supports this concern.
The proportion of post-consumer recyclates in German plastics production was just 7.2 per cent in 2019. For the The situation is worse for plastic packaging: Only around 5.8 per cent post-cosumer recyclates are used here; most of it from PET bottles. The DGAW is therefore working in the Forum Rezyklat on a model for packaging labels, among other things. As the substitution rate is also still low in many other product groups, the organisation is proposing a exchange of experts on this topic in order to make the findings to date as generally accessible as possible. to make.
Source: DGAW
