Broad alliance against rubbish in the sea: the project partners involved in "Fishing for Litter" (Photo: NABU).

Cologne, 16 May 2011. Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) is gearing up to combat waste in the sea. In the plastics recycling plant of DSD’s subsidiary Systec Plastics GmbH in the North Rhine-Westphalian town of Hörstel, DSD’s experts will as part of the “Fishing for Litter” pilot project be analyzing waste collected by fishermen, so as to arrive at conclusions regarding its nature and composition. In a further step, the Green Dot (“Der Grüne Punkt”) will be researching whether it is possible to recycle the waste, or arranging harmless and compliant disposal.

“We shall be contributing our corporate expertise and our excellent network in the sector in order to combat this important problem”, explains Stefan Schreiter, DSD’s CEO. “A good disposal infrastructure helps to restrict the discharge of waste from the land into the sea. The Green Dot and waste separation in Germany have achieved much in this regard. With our involvement in this project, we are aiming to help in further reducing the amount of waste in the North and Baltic Seas.”

In conjunction with DSD and regional partners, Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU) has launched the country’s first “Fishing for Litter” project. Fishermen are now helping to remove waste from the sea and to arrange for its eco-friendly disposal back in harbor. The Baltic ports of Burgstaaken (Fehmarn) and Heiligenhafen are pilot regions for the Baltic. “We are delighted at this broad alliance against using the sea as a rubbish dump”, says NABU’s President Olaf Tschimpke, “because it’s only through joint initiatives by the politicians, the business community and conservationist organizations that we can prevent tens of thousands of marine creatures from being killed by our civilization’s waste.”

Year by year, an estimated 20,000 tons of waste end up in the North Sea – large areas of the Baltic Sea, too, are severely polluted, with concomitantly dramatic ecological consequences. Seabirds and marine mammals are suffocating or starving to death as a result of the waste, with fish and mussels also being affected by microplastics. At the same time, fishermen are complaining about polluted catches and damaged nets; the local councils have to spend millions of euros on cleaning beaches and coasts. Fishermen, waste disposal companies, local councils and the NABU are now aiming to tackle the rubbish in the Baltic Sea as a shared initiative. The “fished” waste will be collected on board; free-of-charge collecting containers are provided in the harbor. During the pilot phase, this waste will be collected separately, so as to acquire information on the pollution levels in the Baltic Sea. The project thus makes an important contribution towards national implementation of the EU’s Marine Strategy Framework Directive approved in 2008.

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Klaus Hillebrand, Tel.: +49 (0) 22 03 / 937-257

About DSD:
Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) has since 1990 set up and organized the world’s first dual system for close-to-home, high-quality recovery of sales packaging. DSD is today, with approximately 250 employees at four facilities in Germany, a leading provider of take-back systems. These include not only the dual system itself, but also eco-friendly, cost-efficient recycling of used electric and electronic equipment, plus transport and commercial packaging, facility disposal and deposit clearing. DSD is a founding member of the European Grüner Punkt umbrella organization PRO EUROPE, and through its subsidiary Deutsche Gesellschaft für Kreislaufwirtschaft und Rohstoffe mbH (DKR) a leading marketer for secondary raw materials in Europe.