Europe signs up to the Green Dot
25 European nations – in alphabetical order: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey – have so far introduced “The Green Dot” brand as a financing symbol for the collection, sorting and recovery of used packaging.
To find out what the various systems are called, how long they have been up and running and how they operate, just use the interactive map of Europe: click on the country you want to learn more about, and this will lead you to some interesting details.
If you want to get some more background on this, you can order the latest edition of the brochure called “Europe goes Green Dot”, which is available in German and English. The brochure contains vividly succinct profiles of the various systems involved, plus a harmonised questionnaire to provide a detailed international comparison. The information package is rounded off by the contact addresses in the appendix.
The principle of producer responsibility has successfully established itself as a model for Europe. In terms of packaging recycling, the business community seized the initiative at an early stage: in the majority of the member states, the European Packaging Directive 94/62/EC and its amendments in 2004 and 2005 have been implemented in systems featuring producer responsibility. 25 European nations – in alphabetical order: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Turkey – have so far introduced “The Green Dot” brand as a financing symbol for the collection, sorting and recovery of used packaging.
More than 136,000 companies are involved in financing the recycling operation, and more than 300 million people in Europe are nowadays separating their packaging waste using collection systems featuring the Green Dot. In addition, the following cooperation partners Valpak for the United Kingdom, Icelandic Recycling Fund for Iceland, PYR for Finland, UkrPEC - Ukrainian Packaging and Ecological Coalition for the Ukraine, CSR for North America, CONAI for Italy, Nedvang for the Netherlands and SEKOPAK for Serbia make sure that duly authorised companies are the only ones to use “The Green Dot“ brand or are PRO Europe members.
Under the aegis of the Packaging Recovery Organisation s.p.r.l. (PRO EUROPE, Brussels) all Green Dot systems are working on their shared task of progressing the efficacy of packaging recycling on an international level and simplifying goods traffic for internationally operating customers.
This shared initiative by packaging manufacturers, fillers, vendors and disposal companies has brought about a fundamental change in the European waste and packaging markets. By incorporating the polluter-pays principle in the structure of the licence fees, the Green Dot model creates specific incentives to avoid or reduce packaging. The Green Dot has thus evolved into a vital constituent of sustainable and resource-economical environmental policy-making in Europe. Every year, approximately 22.1 million tons of packaging are fed back into the material cycle, enabling them to be re-used by the business community. Recycling thus saves substantial quantities of primary energy, and reduces climate-hostile emissions.
If you’d like to put your packages on the market in one of the countries mentioned above, please get in touch with the Green Dot system concerned, or ask your regional contact person for support.
