Since around 2005, the Der Grüne Punkt group has set up an annual environmental balance to determine and present the ecological achievements of its EPR activities. The model used to determine the environmental balance corresponds to the Umberto® material flow software (currently version U5.6), which is calculated by the ifeu Institute for Energy and Environmental Research.
All data relevant to the model is centrally recorded using a template file provided by the ifeu Institute. The Umberto model is calculated using the so-called input monitor, in which all relevant data is collated as input data. The data is based on the volume flows for packaging waste handed over, which are verified as part of the volume flow verification.
For the 2024 environmental balance sheet, the total amount accounted for by Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH is 805,565 tonnes, which is 17.5% lower than in 2023. Overall, the following results for the environmental balance are obtained for 2024, with only the savings in CO2 shown here as an example:
Overall, the savings effects remained relatively consistent between 2021 and 2024. There was a slight decrease in the overall greenhouse effect, mainly due to higher proportions of mixed plastics and – affecting all LWP sorting fractions – the lower proportion of sorting residues for co-incineration in cement works. This reduces the potential for energy recovery.
Customers who license packaging with Der Grüne Punkt can obtain an environmental certificate for their quantities, which documents the specific savings in various impact categories. Since 2021 (when the first verified environmental balance sheet was drawn up), a total of around 4,000,000 tonnes of LWP has been recycled, saving around 2,285,800 tonnes of CO2 equivalents (CO2e)
(Sources: environmental balance sheets 2021-2024, ifeu Institute)
