DSD’s Environmental Performance Report for 2008: recycling with the Green Dot pays off

59 billion megajoules saved – or energy for 1.9 million cars

Recovery rates up once again, to 120 per cent, and statutory requirements overfulfilled, as in previous years

Cologne/Berlin, 18 June 2009. Packaging recycling with the Green Dot saves substantial amounts of energy and greenhouse gases; the recovery rates achieved by Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) have risen to new all-time highs – these are the major results of DSD’s Environmental Performance Report for 2008. By recycling 2.6 million tons of used sales packaging, DSD saved 59 billion megajoules’ of primary energy in 2008. This amount of energy would suffice to supply one year’s worth of fuel for 1.9 million compact-size cars with an average annual mileage of 15,000 kilometres. At the same time, DSD prevented the emission of 1.4 million tons in carbon dioxide equivalents – as much as 630,000 of these cars would emit in an entire year.

DSD presented the results at an exclusive experts’ forum in Berlin themed around “Packaging recycling as a driver of the closed-cycle economy – DSD’s Environmental Performance Report for 2008 and the cradle-to-cradle approach” attended by DSD customers, scientists and representatives of the political community. “The results show how important packaging recycling with the Green Dot has become as a source of raw materials for the German economy and for reducing environmental impact”, explained Stefan Schreiter, DSD’s Chief Executive Officer. “Last year, we recovered 20 per cent more packages than our customers actually reported, thus achieving an overall recovery rate of 120 per cent.” DSD once again increased the yield involved, while at the same time the licensed quantity, meaning the amount of packages reported and paid for by the customers, continued to fall.

“The new rules laid down in the amended German Packaging Ordinance were not yet taking effect in 2008”, said Schreiter. “This led to free-riding effects. We are now, however, starting to see initial results from the amendment to the Packaging Ordinance.” The licensed quantity increased significantly during the first few months of 2009, operators of dual systems reported numerous new contracts. “From January to April of this year, we concluded more than 4,000 contracts with customers who had never previously bothered with the disposal of their sales packages. This gives me grounds for justified optimism regarding the future of the dual systems’ market.”

DSD’s Environmental Performance Report: individually calculated for each customer

The calculations for the energy and carbon dioxide savings are modelled on internationally recognised eco-accounting standards. The German ifeu Institute for Energy and Environmental Research in Heidelberg has checked and confirmed the calculations as an independent appraiser. Back in 2007, DSD was the first system operator to certify for its 500 biggest customers how much carbon dioxide they had saved by recycling their packages. For 2008, DSD will for the first time publish this figure for all customers, irrespective of their size. These statistics are already being incorporated in some companies’ sustainability reports.

The Green Dot is also reducing other categories of emission – particularly of substances that contribute towards excessive fertilisation or acidification of soil and water. “Overfertilised bodies of water may suffer extinction, acidified soil will not produce any plants. So with our work we help to preserve species diversity within our eco-systems”, emphasised Stefan Schreiter.

In order to support this effect, DSD is helping with the ‘Greenhouse’ project of the Natural Heritage Foundation of Germany’s Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union (NABU). The foundation receives large portions of the former lignite open-cast mining land in Lausitz as a retreat reservation for endangered species. “We transfer to our customers the chance to sponsor a piece of ‘Greenhouse’”, explained Stefan Schreiter. “The size of the sponsorship is governed by their personal contribution towards packaging recycling.” The more packages a company registers with DSD, the greater is DSD’s contribution to the ‘Greenhouse’ project. To quote Stefan Schreiter: “The ‘Greenhouse’ goals correspond to those of packaging recycling: cutting CO2 emissions and preserving bio-diversity.”

The cradle-to-cradle approach and the Packaging Quality Initiative

The Environmental Performance Report provides DSD not only with results detailing the environmental effects, but also with specific pointers to the ongoing development of packaging recycling. The goal here for the future is to keep packaging materials in the economic circuit for longer. This thinking is also supported by the cradle-to-cradle approach, presented by Prof. Michael Braungart, founder and Scientific Director of the environmental research firm EPEA Internationale Umweltforschung GmbH, in Berlin. Under this concept, products are designed to circulate in natural or technical closed-cycle loops with minimised loss of quality, and without impacting on the natural environment.

Together with selected partners from the retailing, filling and package manufacturing sectors, DSD has set up a pilot project called “Packaging Quality Initiative”, for applying the cradle-to-cradle approach to packages. “This has several advantages for all the parties involved”, commented a confident Stefan Schreiter. “Thanks to the cradle-to-cradle design, very precisely defined material compositions are being used in the production processes. This enhances product safety levels and even creates cost advantages. For our recycling operations, we receive recyclable materials without any unwanted admixtures and contaminants. This will produce a new quantum leap in recycling, resembling the economic impact triggered by introduction of the dual system and waste separation back in the 1990s.”

You will find all the results and details of DSD’s Environmental Performance Report for 2008 under: Environmental performance

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.