What does the Green Dot cost?
In contrast to the cost of living, the licence fees that industrial firms and retailers pay for package recycling have repeatedly fallen over the past few years by an average of 35 per cent for customers of Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) in the last ten years. To give a few specific examples by way of illustration: a plastic carrier bag currently costs 63 per cent less than in 1997. While back then the recycling price for the bag came to 3.3 cents, in 2007 it’s a mere 1.23 cents. Equally notable is the price trend for a yoghurt tub with an aluminium lid. Whereas in 1997 it cost a licensee of the Green Dot 1.39 cents, nowadays the figure is down to 0.9 cents, i.e. 35.5 per cent less. And the recycling price for a pencil carton beats any comparison: at 0.16 cents in 2007, it’s 74.5 per cent below the price of 1997, when it cost 0.61 cents.
The reasons for this price cut are firstly technical advances, meaning the introduction of automatic sorting facilities with high recyclables yields and maximised homogeneity, plus high-quality recovery of competitive secondary raw materials. Well over half the plastics recycled by DSD were mechanically recovered, i.e. made into new plastic products. This is not only the eco-friendliest recycling option, but simultaneously the most affordable as well. Secondly, competition in the disposal service sector has reduced the costs involved in putting collection and sorting out to tender.
About 18,000 customers from the industrial and retail sectors print the "Green Dot" financing symbol on their packaging. In paying for the use of the symbol, they are financing the nationwide, close-to-home collection of used sales packaging.
There is also a growing international demand for efficient systems for the sustainable recycling of packaging. The Green Dot model offers an economically practical solution for the recycling of packaging and is therefore very attractive. In Europe particularly, more and more countries are opting for this financing symbol.
Status: March 2007
