Greenpeace: Every second catering establishment ignores the obligation to offer reusable packaging

Between 1 and 15 January, Greenpeace conducted a nationwide in over 650 restaurants of large fast food chains, snack bars, but also at delivery services and at fresh food counters in supermarkets tested whether they fulfil the new legal Reusable offer obligation for single-use plastic packaging. The result: the reusable packaging obligation will be simply ignored by a good half of the take-away sector.

„To stop the flood of waste, compliance with the law must be monitored, enforced under criminal law and, above all, extended. Environment Minister Steffi Lemke should use the disastrous experiences of the first few weeks to finally introduce a nationwide reusable packaging obligation - for all packaging materials.“

Viola Wohlgemuth, Greenpeace resource conservation expert

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The Greenpeace research shows that McDonalds and Burger King, for example, only offer drinks and ice cream in reusable packaging, while other products continue to be sold in disposable packaging. Kentucky Fried Chicken offered not even reusable alternatives for drinks although this is now mandatory for all disposable cups regardless of material.

Only just under 24 per cent of catering establishments complied with the full requirements of the law, i.e. a reusable offer at no extra charge and with clearly visible advertising in the shop. Several also replaced the plastic in the disposable packaging with other materials, thus circumventing the law without reducing the amount of waste. According to the Berlin Consumer Advice Centre, 770 tonnes of packaging waste are produced every day in Germany from takeaway packaging for food and drinks.