“Trickery” is putting the market at risk
3rd Grüner Punkt Forum discusses implementation of the 5th Amendment to the German Packaging Ordinance / To quote Prof. Delfmann: “Agree shared standards!”
Cologne, 25 November 2009. Private-sector, successful packaging disposal in Germany is still severely at risk, due primarily to the behaviour of certain protagonists, even though initial indications for a turnaround are discernible. This is the verdict of the 3rd Grüner Punkt Forum, which Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) hosted in Cologne today in conjunction with the German Brand Association and the Confederation of the German Food Industry.
“The quantity reported at the dual systems is higher than last year”, reported Stefan Schreiter DSD’s CEO. “But there is still a significant disproportion between the quantity reported and the quantity disposed of.” Not all providers, he said, were complying with the new rules of the German Packaging Ordinance. “Trickery is ensuring that large quantities are still disappearing from the market, but not from the Yellow Bin.”
“The dual systems have to agree on shared standards and binding compliance with them”, urged Prof. Dr. h.c. Werner Delfmann, Chairperson of the Executive Committee of the Packaging and Environment Working Group (AGVU). The enforcement agencies, too, he added, are called upon to investigate infringements of the Packaging Ordinance. The certifications of compliance filed with the German Confederation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce (DIHK) must be checked within the framework of the industry’s self-monitoring arrangements by an auditor, a tax consultant, an accountant or a qualified expert. This is why the certifications of compliance need at most be subjected to random-sample checks by the state authorities, said Dr. Dirk Grünhoff, Section Head in the Ministry of the Environment, Forestry and Consumer Protection of the State of Rhineland-Palatinate. “A general substantive check is neither provided for under the German Packaging Ordinance, nor is it feasible for us.”
Dr. Armin Rockholz, Section Head for the Closed-Cycle Economy, CO2 Emissions Trading of the German Confederation of Chambers of Industry and Commerce, emphasised the advantages of the filing office for the obligated companies, and called for a further easing of the burden. “A sixth amendment to the German Packaging Ordinance should lead to further deregulation, not more stringent stipulations.” However, Dr. Thomas Rummler. Undersecretary in the German Federal Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Reactor Safety, sees no necessity at present for a sixth amendment. “The 5th Amendment to the German Packaging Ordinance is taking progressively more effect. A consensus between the dual systems regarding harmonised ordinance-compliant application of the rules will be conducive to further success of the amendment and fair competition. “Recent scientific studies confirm the ecological sense of the status quo for packaging recovery in Germany. Design enhancement targeting a recyclables bin in which other substances can also be collected for ecologically beneficial recovery will be examined by the Ministry in the near future!”
Reputable system operators, meanwhile, are called upon to ensure legally compliant implementation of the German Packaging Ordinance, said Michael Wiener, DSD’s Managing Director Sales and Member of the Board. “The dubious practices of some providers, such as over dimensioned sectoral solutions or package quantities declared with deliberate inaccuracy, have to cease. They’re destroying the market for everyone.” Initiatives like the verpackV/konkret internet portal, or the multi-client studies for the German Society for Packaging Research (GVM) for ordinance-compliant sectoral solutions and correct delimitation of sales packages, he added, are the right approach for arriving at shared standards for all market players, so as to assure fair competition.
Quotes from the 3rd Grüner Punkt Forum: 
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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.
