German packaging waste (1)

In order to solve the world's three major crises of population, environment, and resources, the world has welcomed the tide of environmental protection, resource conservation, and sustainable development. Germany is at the forefront of this world trend and has taken the lead in establishing the Dual System Deutscheland (DSD), also known as Green Dot, a German two-way system marked by Green Dot. We have carried out fruitful work on the recycling of waste and achieved satisfactory results. This article gives an introduction to the organization, operation and resource utilization of DSD in the light of recent visits to Germany and after training.
Establishment and spread On June 12, 1990, the German government promulgated the first packaging waste disposal regulations "packaging - disposal of packaging waste", which aims to reduce the generation of packaging waste. For unavoidable disposable packaging waste, regulations must be reused or recycled. The regulations also mandate that manufacturers not only be responsible for the products, but also responsible for the recovery of their packaging, but also responsible for the recovery of packaging, and instruct the companies engaged in transportation, agency, sales, packaging companies and wholesalers to recycle them. After using the package, you can also choose to delegate the responsibility for recycling to a recycling company that specializes in recycling.
The DSD system is a special waste recycling company established in accordance with this Decree. The scope of DSD recycling is limited to sales of packaging waste. In the packaging waste composition used in Germany each year, sales packaging accounts for 48.4% (lifepacking and commercial waste packaging), transportation packaging accounts for 26.8%, multipurpose packaging accounts for 14.7%, commercial and industrial 8.7% of packaging, 0.8% of household packaging, and 0.4% of hazardous packaging, and DSD is responsible for recycling is the largest part of the waste packaging. Other packaging is recycled by other recycling organizations. For example, transport packaging is recycled by material recycling company PESY, recycling industry and enterprise plastic packaging company RIGK, metal and tinplate packaging are recycled by KBS, and building materials packaging and polyurethane foam plastic by POR. Company Recycling; and DSD Co., Ltd. Cologne's Raw Materials Recycling Association Vfw also recycles sales packaging and is Green Dot's main competitor.
According to statistics of DSD, the total amount of solid waste (garbage) produced in Germany in a year is about 400 million tons (including industry, construction, mines, and household waste), and 40 million tons of domestic garbage is produced in residential neighborhoods. About 11.6 million tons are used. German regulations stipulate that the recycling efficiency index for various types of packaging wastes ranges from 60% to 75%. Due to the excellent operation of DSD, in 2001, various types of packaging waste recycling indicators exceeded the regulations, as shown in Table 1.
Table 1 The actual completion of various types of packaging recycling

Recycling of Packaging Materials Regulatory Requirements Recycling 60% 105% of Aluminum Packaging Actually Completed in 2001
Composite packaging 60% 65%
Plastic Packaging 60% 87%
Paper Packaging 70% 166%
Tinplate Packing 70% 144%
Glass packaging 75% 93%

Those who exceed the figures in the table are the ones that have recovered many unused green dot marks. For paper packaging, participating in the Green Point company is 891,723 tons that should be recycled, and 1,847,941 tons actually recycled.
Under the influence of legislation in Germany that enforced the recycling of packaging waste, the European Community passed the EU packaging guidelines on December 20, 1994. The guidelines, like the German regulations, prioritized recycling and reuse of packaging waste. The order of treatment is: reduction, recycling, recycling of materials (degradable materials that cannot be reused), incineration and energy reuse, landfilling and composting; packaging guidelines require all member states to take measures to establish The use of recycling mark recycling packaging system, packaging production and use of the manufacturer must use the recycled packaging, commissioned third party recycling to pay the environmental protection recycling logo use fees; guidelines require the member countries of packaging waste recycling efficiency indicators German regulations require low levels. Recycling and utilization rates in 2001 reached 50%, and the recycling rate of each type of Packaging Material waste must be at least 15%. The countries that adopted the green dot recycling mark have since spread in the EU and other countries and have reached 16 so far. They are: Austria (1993), Belgium (1994), Czech Republic (2000), France (1993), Hungary (2001) ), Greece (2002), Ireland (1998), Latvia (2000), Resenborg (1995), Norway (2000), Poland (2002), Portugal (1997), Spain (1996), Sweden (2001), Canada (2001), United States (2001).
The use of the green dot mark in the EU to complete the recycling of the country is worse than that of Germany. The main reason is that the recycling rate of plastic packaging is low, and only four countries have reached the EU's packaging guidelines. (To be continued)