As at: September 2007

Further information on this topic can be found at www.bmu.de/waste-management.

General Information Waste Management in Germany

Waste management has come a long way since the early 70s: for example, before the first Waste Avoidance and Waste Management Act was passed in 1972, every single town and village had its own landfill site - about 50,000 throughout Germany. During the 80s and 90s the number of landfills was drastically reduced to less than 2,000 and establishing and operating these sites was subjected to strict rules and regulations. The majority of the former landfills for domestic waste were closed down. Nowadays, only 160 landfills for domestic waste are in operation in Germany (so-called Landfill class II). The number of incineration plants, plants for mechanical-biological or other treatments of domestic waste and special treatment plants for industrial waste was raised considerably.

From the mid-80s the political concept of waste hierarchy caught on:

"Reduce, Reuse, Recover".

Product responsibility is at the heart of waste management policy in Germany. Through this the conditions for an effective and environmentally sound waste avoidance and recovery are already created in the production stage. 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.

In addition to recycling metal, textiles and paper, which is already being carried out, other recyclable materials as well should be collected separately, sorted and used and thus reintroduced into the economic cycle. This idea was the basis for the Closed Substance Cycle and Waste Management Act which entered into force during the mid-90s.

Today more than 250,000 people in Germany work in waste management - from engineers and refuse workers to civil servants. There are a number of colleges which offer waste management courses and there is even special training for professions in the waste disposal sector. The annual turnover of waste management exceeds 50 billion euro.

The total amount of waste decreased over the last years. Waste produced by private households has remained almost on the same level for a long time now. Since the economy grew by 15 percent between 1992 and 2004, it is obvious that economic growth and the volume of waste produced are decoupled.

There is a clear shift in waste volumes with regard to disposal and recovery. By willingly separating waste the population contributes its share to improving recycling possibilities.

Today more than 60 percent of municipal waste is recycled (2005) and even around 65 percent of waste from production (2005). In some areas, for example packaging, the percentage increased to about 80 percent and even 87 percent in the building sector. The total volume of waste which is being recovered is impressive: 29 million tonnes of domestic waste, 31 million tonnes of waste from production and trade and 161 million tonnes of construction and demolition waste. This is equivalent to the recovery of about four tonnes of waste per head in Germany. This is about the weight of four small cars.

These numbers give an impressive idea of how important environmental protection has become for the economy. It significantly contributes to the value added of national economies.

The contribution of modern waste management to climate protection is remarkable: over the last 15 years the emissions of greenhouse gas pollutants from waste management were reduced by more than 31 million tonnes of CO2 equivalents per year.

The federal government's environmental target is to further develop waste and closed cycle management towards materials flow management over the coming 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. Successful materials management has to include production and consumption. The recycling of raw materials has to be supported while ensuring that harmful substances from waste do not reappear in new products but are safely filtered out.

Germany's closed cycle management is an overall good example of how environmental policy can contribute to environmental protection, resource efficiency, climate protection - and thus at the same time to greater economic efficiency.

More detailed information on waste management is available at: www.bmu.de/waste-management