Recycling of Plastic Packaging Sets New Records

Almost 84 of the used packaging generated in private households, industry, and trade was recycled. At the same time of the increase of 0.6 percentage points to a historic record, the total amount put into circulation has decreased by 2 percentage points, explains the Association for Packaging Market Research (GVM), which was commissioned to compile the annual figures. According to the GVM, packaging accounts for 38 percent of all municipal waste.

This waste stream is recycled at a rate of around 40 percent. Significantly more material is returned to the material cycle from old packaging than from other waste sections. The experts report an improvement in recycling in all material fractions, except for glass and cardboard, aluminum and plastic composites that wrap beverages and liquid food. FMCG packaging made of aluminum achieves a recycling rate of 95 percent, tinplate and the paper/cardboard/cardboard (PPK) fraction both achieve almost more than 90 percent.

Aluminum Cans in Vogue

Background to the very good aluminum quota: The consumption of aluminum packaging is rising continuously. According to GVM, the increase between 2009 and 2021 was 66 kt or 63 percent (incl. composites). In 2021, the consumption of aluminum packaging increased by 3.5 kt or 2.5 percent. This is almost exclusively due to the strong growth of aluminum beverage cans, the consumption of which is increasing. However, the consumption of aluminum beverage cans is increasing considerably more in units than in tons. This is due to the fact that the material usage weights in aluminum beverage cans are decreasing.

The greatest progress has been made in the recycling of the often-criticized plastic fraction. A good 3.2 million tons of this petroleum-based packaging material were consumed. Almost two thirds of this (65.6 percent, up 2.1 points) was recycled – more than ever before in terms of volume. In 2022, this was solely due to the post-consumer sector, whose “inland” recycling rate is already approaching the 70 percent mark.

Glass: Recycling Rate Not reached

In the glass fraction, however, the rate of recovered material fell by just under half a percentage point overall to 84.6 percent. The dual systems recycled 5.6 percentage points less glass packaging than in the previous year. The recycling rate of at least 90 percent, which is required by law and is based on the volume of participation, was not achieved.

The Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR) explains that the recycling rate for glass was missed by 8.6 percentage points partly due to the extension of the one-way deposit, which diverts material from household collection. There was also a lack of glass containers, explains the Federal Environment Agency. Consumers also have problems separating packaging made from different materials. Too much packaging ends up in the paper garbage can by mistake because it is partly made of paper.

The red lantern is attached to drinks cartons and similar packaging for liquid foodstuffs. Because one of the large recycling plants in Germany ran into economic difficulties, the recycling rate slumped from the legally prescribed minimum of 75 percent to just over 63 percent. The ZSVR speaks of “capacity bottlenecks in recycling plants”. However, the GVM expects the recycling industry to quickly make up for this drop in volume.

According to preliminary figures, overall economic packaging consumption in the most recent reporting period was two percentage points lower than in the previous year. In total, a good 15 million tons are in the balance.

Per capita, each resident in Germany is responsible for around 229 kilograms, almost 6 percent less than in the previous year. Limited purely to private households, the volume of beverage bottles licensed in the dual system and placed on the market as deposit bottles shrank by 80,000 tons to 8.7 million tons. The quantity consumed per capita by private households fell by around 2.3 percentage points to 103 kilograms. PPK packaging accounts for a large third of this.

Almost all types of material contributed to the fall in the total quantity. Sales of paper packaging fell by just under 100,000 tons to 8.34 million tons. This decline would have been even greater if paper-based packaging containing plastic had not increased by almost 9 percent to 335,000 tons in the reporting year. This growth has been criticized by recyclers and the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR), as such composites are considered non-recyclable or difficult to recycle.

The consumption of plastic sleeves fell by just under 100,000 to 3.3 million tons, with private households accounting for 70 percent of the reduction. The same tonnage was lost by glass, which landed at just under 3 million tons. Private households even accounted for 80 percent of the losses in this area.