The ordinance was amended in 1998. It is the task of this private sector company to organize the collection and sorting of sales packaging with the Green Dot.

The disposal services of DSD GmbH are financed by way of the licensing trademark “Der Grüne Punkt”. This exempts the retail trade and manufacturers from the take-back obligation for waste packaging as laid down in the Packaging Ordinance.

Financing based on the polluter-pays principle

The overall system for the collection, sorting and recovery of recyclables is financed with the licence fees paid by trade and industry for the right to use the Green Dot. 

In this way, participating companies transfer their responsibility for fulfilling the take-back and recycling obligations specified in the Packaging Ordinance of 1991 to Duales System Deutschland GmbH. 

The licence fees factor in the disparate costs for collecting and sorting the individual packaging materials involved – in the case of plastics the costs for recovery as well. Payment is levied only for packages sold in Germany. The licence fee concerned is governed solely by the material being used. 

This means that all recovery costs are included in the packaging prices and thus in the total product prices through the licence fees.

More cost efficiency from year to year
DSD GmbH has established itself successfully at a high technological level and is constantly striving to further optimise the quality and improve the efficiency of the collection, sorting and recycling system. 

Although the waste management performance has increased, the costs for the Green Dot have been falling since 1994. As a result, the Green Dot is steadily becoming cheaper for licensees.

Lightweight packages, for instance, made of cardboard laminates and plastics, can nowadays be disposed of by DSD GmbH at costs dramatically lower than a few years ago. The reasons behind this enhanced efficiency level include a higher total quantity of licences, advances in sorting technology, and falling recovery costs for these materials.