According to surveys conducted by Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH), 120 cities are interested in introducing a single-use tax. In the surveys from 2024 and 2023, almost 50 cities also stated that they would first wait for the appeal before the Federal Constitutional Court. This was recently rejected by the highest judges - the municipal tax on single-use packaging is therefore legal.
The cities that initially wanted to wait for the Karlsruhe judgement include Bonn, Kaiserslautern, Lübeck and Regensburg. After the Decision of the Federal Constitutional Court on legality municipal one-way packaging taxes DUH is therefore launching a join-in campaign, to introduce packaging taxes in as many cities and municipalities as possible. Citizens can let DUH know which municipalities they would like to see apply for the introduction of a single-use tax. The environmental and consumer protection organisation has been vehemently calling for excise duties on single-use to-go packaging since 2014 and believes that making it more expensive is the right approach. one of the most effective measures against unnecessary waste and to promote climate-friendly reusable alternatives.
Barbara Metz, Federal Managing Director of DUH: „The littering of streets, squares and parks in cities annoys people every day and pollutes our environment. Fast food chains such as McDonald's in particular are largely responsible for this disposable waste and our dirty cities. The proportion of reusable takeaway packaging is just one per cent. While the federal government remains inactive, cities and municipalities can now take action against single-use waste themselves. The Federal Constitutional Court's decision finally gives them legal clarity to hold companies accountable for their single-use waste and ensure greater environmental justice.“
„We are calling on all citizens to let us know their city or municipality so that we can submit an application for the introduction of a single-use packaging tax there. We particularly expect the cities that have already signalled their interest to us to get serious and introduce packaging taxes. Every additional municipal single-use packaging tax will increase the pressure on the federal government to introduce a standardised nationwide single-use tax. In any case, there should be a legal framework to organise the levying of single-use taxes in municipalities in the best possible way and ensure their effectiveness. We will be making proposals on this shortly.“
Barbara Metz, Federal Managing Director of DUH:
With the initiative „Plastic-free cities“, DUH is calling on cities to levy local excise duties on single-use takeaway packaging, among other things, and has now published a List of cities who have already expressed an interest. Last week, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled in favour of a McDonald's franchisee's lawsuit against the One-way tax in force in Tübingen since January 2022 rejected. In addition to Tübingen, Constance has also been levying a packaging tax on disposable crockery since 2025. The cities of Heidelberg and Freiburg are currently preparing to introduce a packaging tax.
Source: DUH
