The decisions of the German Environment Agency (UBA) are once again causing displeasure in the economy.
 

According to Euwid, the UBA issued a notice at the beginning of October stating that 1-liter gable top packaging for milk is now also to be classified as beverage packaging subject to a special levy in the single-use plastic fund. With this interpretation of the Single-Use Plastic Fund Act (EWKFondsG), the authority has once again alienated the economy, according to Euwid. Contrary to the unanimous recommendation of the Single-Use Plastics Commission, the UBA apparently assumed that this packaging is consumed immediately after purchase and then carelessly thrown away, i.e. “littered”. According to Euwid, the dairy industry and beverage carton manufacturers sharply criticize this decision, as the UBA is once again disregarding the unanimous expert opinion of the Single-Use Plastics Commission. The latter had recommended that the 1-liter milk carton not be assigned to any product group of the EWKFondsG, since the volume is too large for direct consumption. For the UBA, however, direct consumption is not a decisive criterion for the classification of beverage packaging with a volume of up to three liters. Packaging of this size is legally defined as beverage packaging, according to the UBA.
 
The decision of the UBA to include sealed sales packaging for coffee-based drinks in the scope of the EWKFondsG has also met with a lack of understanding and criticism from the business associations concerned. Also at the beginning of October, the authority had decided that empty polypropylene containers that are filled with coffee and sold in supermarkets are considered “disposable beverage cups” and are subject to a special levy of 1,236 euros per ton. The criticism of the business associations, including the IK Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen, is directed both against the extension of the law to “industrial precursors” and against the classification as “beverage cups”. The associations are now calling for the decision to be reconsidered and the law to be amended to ensure that only products that are actually relevant are covered by it.
 
Sources:

• Euwid Recycling und Entsorgung 44/2024 (29.10.2024)
• Press release IK (15.10.2024)
• Photo: © Unspslash / Dang Tran (symbolic image)