Boris Palmer Against Nationwide Regulation
“The aim of the packaging tax is to avoid waste altogether. That’s why it applies to all disposable packaging, regardless of the material,” explains Tübingen’s Mayor Boris Palmer when asked by FACHPACK360°. Above all, according to Palmer, there has been significantly less rubbish on pavements and streets since the introduction. The city does not have exact figures for this. However, an anonymous survey of local restaurants revealed that the use of disposable packaging in Tübingen fell significantly between 2019 and 2025. Use remained the same in 27 percent of businesses and fell in 73 percent. According to Palmer, 17 percent of businesses are now even doing away with single-use packaging altogether.
“The introduction of the packaging tax was a catalyst for the use of reusable packaging in Tübingen: most businesses added reusable packaging to their range when or after the packaging tax came into force,” says Palmer.
Reusable Box for Pizza
Recently, Tübingen also introduced a reusable box for pizza, which the city introduced in cooperation with the company Trikora Deutschland GmbH. The deposit boxes have been available in various catering establishments in Tübingen since May for a deposit of five euros. Other businesses can join the project. Palmer believes that local authorities should generally offer incentives for reusable and deposit systems. Tübingen supports businesses in the expansion of such systems with a financial support program. “This is another reason why the number of catering businesses in Tübingen that serve food and drinks in reusable containers has quadrupled since the introduction of the packaging tax.”
Critics of a packaging tax speak of additional bureaucracy. The non-partisan mayor counters this: “The packaging tax has a high level of acceptance in Tübingen, including among catering businesses. We attribute this to the extensive communication on the part of the city administration. The biggest points of criticism in the past were the unique selling point and the legal uncertainty. Both have now become redundant – the judgement of the Federal Constitutional Court has brought legal certainty, and other cities are now also introducing a packaging tax.”
The costs for businesses are manageable. It is initially limited to the annual submission of a two-page tax return, in which businesses must provide information on the quantity of disposable packaging they have disposed of. Most businesses now record this via their electronic cash register system. “We always make sure to minimize the effort for businesses.”
Even though Palmer only mentions the advantages of the packaging tax, he is against a nationwide regulation. “Each municipality can regulate this itself. In cities that don’t have a problem with waste in public spaces, such a regulation is not necessary.”
By Anna Ntemiris, editor
