Dramatic slump at the Dual Systems Joint Agency:

“There is obviously some manipulation going on, when thousands of tons of lightweight packaging simply disappear!”

Cologne, 21 December 2009. Against the background of dramatically lower quantity reports to the Dual Systems Joint Agency, Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) has strongly urged its competitors to comply with the German Packaging Ordinance. “System operators have used reckless costings to poach customers from us, without, however, reporting the packaging quantities involved to the Joint Agency, by exploiting a legal grey area”, explains Stefan Schreiter, CEO of DSD. “Although in the first quarter of 2010 we currently have around 80,000 tons less under contract than in the preceding year’s equivalent period, only 5,000 tons of this are actually showing up at our competitors. This can only mean one thing: our competitors are only too pleased to take over our customers – but DSD is expected to continue bearing the costs.”

This practice, he added, is leading to a dramatic decline in the budgeted quantities for lightweight packages: whereas for the 1st quarter of 2009 a good 270,000 tons of lightweight packaging were still being reported, the figure for the 1st quarter of 2010 is only just under 200,000 tons. “There is obviously some manipulation going on here, when thousands of tons of lightweight packaging simply disappear”, speculates Schreiter. “We are not prepared to tolerate the apparent misappropriation of quantities, and will accordingly be reducing our contribution to the system in accordance with the decrease in the packaging quantities participating with us.” The behaviour of some competing dual systems is putting the entire market at risk, warns Schreiter.

On 7 January 2010, a special meeting of the Joint Agency is scheduled, where DSD will urge that the budgeted quantity proportions be reported anew.

Contact person:

Klaus Hillebrand

Telephone: +49(0) 22 03/9 37-257

About DSD:
The Green Dot – Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD), employing around 300 people at four facilities in Germany, is a leading provider of take-back systems. These include not only close-to-home collection and recovery of sales packages, but also eco-friendly, cost-efficient recycling of used electrical and electronic equipment and transport packages, facility disposal services and deposit clearing.