General Information Waste Management in Germany

What is waste management about?

Avoidance, recovery, disposal. This is the principle of the waste hierarchy which is the basis for waste management in Germany. In the past waste was simply landfilled, but it has since been recognised that waste contains valuable raw materials which can be used to conserve natural resources. Waste avoidance means consuming less raw materials and reducing burdens on the environment. Waste recovery means that raw materials and energy are reintroduced into the economic cycle. German waste management is an important industrial sector and provides high-quality technology for the efficient use of waste as a resource and the environmentally sound disposal of the remaining residual waste.

Objectives

The German government aims to achieve almost complete high-quality recovery, at least of municipal waste, by 2020. This will eliminate the need to landfill wastes, which has adverse effects on the climate. Resource and climate protection will be incorporated into waste management to a greater extent at European and international level over the next years, for example by minimising methane and CO2 emissions or substituting fossil fuels. Germany contributes know-how and innovative technology to reaching this target.

The German government's policy

Towards materials flow management

The German government wants to develop waste and closed cycle management into a sustainable resource-efficient materials flow management over the next years. By strictly separating wastes, through pretreatment, recycling and the recovery of energy, Germany aims to make full use of substances and materials bound in wastes and therefore make landfilling of wastes superfluous. Significant ecological progress was made with the entry into force of the ban on landfilling untreated household wastes or general waste from industry on 1 June 2005.

Key instrument - product responsibility

Product responsibility is at the heart of waste management policy in Germany. It puts the idea into practice that waste avoidance is best achieved by holding the generator of waste responsible. This way, producers and distributors must design their products in such a way as to reduce waste occurrence and allow environmentally sound recovery and disposal of the residual substances, both in the production of the goods and in their subsequent use. The legal bases for this are the Act for Promoting Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management and Ensuring Environmentally Compatible Waste Disposal and the Federal Immission Control Act.

Using innovative waste concepts for responsible resource management and climate protection

Sustainable waste management that includes modern and efficient treatment technologies for waste helps to protect both resources and climate. The German government therefore advocates the further development of waste management at European and international level. Germany often takes on a pioneering role in shaping EU waste law. At national level the German government supports sustainable waste management concepts for obtaining raw materials or energy from wastes. German waste management has the highest waste recovery quotas worldwide, and thus already contributes significantly to sustainable management and climate protection.

Strengthening supervision under waste management law

The German government advocates an efficient and economical supervision of waste. The act for simplification of supervision under laws pertaining to waste management, which entered into force on 1 February 2007, was an important step to ease the bureaucratic burden on waste management administration and industry and to strengthen the efficiency of supervision under waste management law. German commitment against export of e-waste. Every year, tonnes of valuable raw materials such as copper or platinum are lost to the German raw materials cycle due to export of waste. The German government champions a clear European regulation under which exporters must prove that the appliances to be exported still function and are not waste. Exporters will be charged for the costs of monitoring.

Consumer information

waste avoidance starts in the shop. Consumers can use baskets or shopping bags instead of plastic or paper bags, choose products with simple packaging over products with multiple packaging and buy reusable bottles and cans instead of one-way packaging. It is relatively easy to help avoid waste and help protect the environment. For example, it only takes 25 recycled PET bottles to make an L-sized fleece sweater. If packaging cannot be avoided, it should not be thrown out with general waste, but placed in containers for recyclables. The more carefully consumers separate their waste, the greater the benefit for the environment. Batteries, paints, lacquers or old electric appliances do not belong in general waste. In this case, too, it is better spend some time on smart disposal today rather than having to pay for the solution of environmental problems tomorrow.