According to preliminary figures from GVM, the recycling rate rose to nearly 64 percent in 2021, Euwid reports.

 

Packaging recycling in Germany again increased slightly overall across all materials in 2021, according to the recycling balance sheet of GVM Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung. According to the report, around 83.5 percent of packaging waste was recycled in 2021, corresponding to an increase of 1.3 percentage points compared to 2020. For household-related consumption, GVM determined a 1.4 percentage point increase in the recycling rate across all materials to 82.2 percent. According to the recycling balance sheet, the volume of packaging waste in Germany also increased significantly, which was due to the fact that significantly more packaging made of paper and wood was used in industry and large-scale commerce in particular. The private sector, on the other hand, had used only slightly more packaging than in the first pandemic year 2020. According to the recycling balance sheet, the consumption of plastic packaging remained almost unchanged: In the private end-use sector, the consumption of plastic packaging decreased slightly, with a slight increase in the commercial sector at the same time. According to the GVM figures, the recycling rate across all packaging materials in 2021 is 96.5 percent, the same high level as in previous years.
 
According to the balance sheet, the recycling rate for plastic packaging once again rose particularly sharply by 3.5 percentage points to 63.9 percent. Of 3.23 million metric tons of plastic packaging, just under 2.07 million metric tons were recycled, according to the report. This is the highest figure since the statistics have been kept. For the recycling of plastic packaging from private final consumption, the balance indicates a significant increase of 4.8 percentage points, and for commercial sources an increase of 1.4 percentage points. In the private household sector, the recycling volume increased by about 90,000 tons year-on-year to 1.38 million tons and the recycling rate rose from 62.5 to 67.3 percent, the report said. This was mainly due to significantly higher volumes being generated in households as a result of the corona pandemic, is said.
 

Sources:

• euwid-recycling.de (Jan. 26, 2023)
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