Last Update: 01.06.2005

Waste policy in Germany and the EU - Info-Tasks

Within the Federal Environment Ministry (BMU), one section, known as a directorate, deals with waste policy. This directorate elaborates legal regulations, ordinances and administrative provisions geared towards the environmentally sound disposal of wastes.

However, the wishes of the consumers and the commercial sector for inexpensive disposal must also be taken into consideration.

The political credo of modern waste policy is:
Avoidance, recycling, environmentally sound disposal!

The objective of the German government's policy on waste is to achieve a recycling-based economy that conserves resources and the environment. The Act for Promoting Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management and Ensuring Environmentally Compatible Waste Disposal entered into force in 1996. According to this Act, the owners or generators of waste are in the first instance responsible for waste avoidance, recovery, and disposal; in order to promote this environmentally sound recycling-based economy, balance sheets for different substances and materials must be drawn up. Based on this Act, the Federal government has issued a number of statutory ordinances and guidelines as well as voluntary agreements, containing requirements for waste supervision, transport licenses, specialized waste management companies and associations, waste management concepts, waste-life-cycle analysis and requirements for the disposal and recovery of wastes. Special legal regulations exist for the following goods: Packaging, end-of life-vehicles, batteries, electric and electronic equipment, waste oil, waste wood, commercial wastes, biodegradable wastes, sewage sludge, and hazardous wastes. Voluntary agreements exist for construction and demolition waste and special paper.
In addition, the Federal government has issued a waste incineration ordinance based on the Federal Immission Control Act.

Thus, the Act represents the consistent implementation of the polluter-pays principle in the field of waste. The 1991 Packaging Ordinance (Verpackungsverordnung) is a prototype for legislation designed to close substance cycles. The Packaging Ordinance generally requires manufacturers and distributors to take back packaging and to re-use it or recycle its constituent materials.

The economic agents affected (producers and distributors) have come together to set up a "Dual Disposal System", which operates alongside the existing public waste disposal arrangements. The Duales System Deutschland GmbH (DSD) organizes the curbside collection of waste packaging directly from private households, the sorting of this waste into material groups, and the recycling of these materials. The levying of charges, on a scale related to the type of packaging material used, is documented by the license label, the "Green Dot" ("Grüner Punkt"), which is printed on products. Since the introduction of the Green Dot System in 1993, more than 20 million tons of used packaging have been brought to recycling and the consumption of packaging per year has been reduced by about 1.3 million tons compared to 1991 levels.

Further progress has been made on the closed loop substance cycle and on product liability. The deposit on drinks cans, which started on 1st January 2003 curbed the flood of single-use packaging. A new Packaging Ordinance came into force in May 2005. It lays down that the deposit on drink cans has to be 25 cent.
More information: New provisions for the deposit on drink cans

The Waste Disposal Ordinance, in force since 1 March 2001, stipulates that by 1 June 2005 at the latest, household waste must be sufficiently pretreated before disposal; thermal and high-performance mechanical/biological processes may be employed for pre-treatment. The Federal government has also adopted a Landfill Ordinance.
More information: A milestone for environmental protection: landfilling of untreated wastes consigned to the past

With a view to encouraging more waste recycling, the Federal government has also introduced ordinances on commercial waste from settlements, waste wood and underground stowage of waste, together with amendment of the Waste Oil Ordinance.

The most important federal regulations.

European Union:
Environmental protection has become a key issue in the European Union. This is also true for waste legislation. The EU is having an ever increasing influence on national legislation by means of regulations and numerous directives, as well as Commission decisions. Germany participates actively in elaborating and developing EC waste legislation.

The most important European regulations.

Federal Länder:
Furthermore, the wishes and needs of the Federal Länder must also be considered. The Federal Länder enforce waste law together with the competent authorities and monitor the waste sector. Most legal provisions in the waste sector therefore require the consent of the Federal Länder in the Bundesrat.