A new minimum standard for assessing the recyclability of packaging has been in force since 1 September 2024.
 

On 29 August 2024, the Central Agency Packaging Register (ZSVR) published the updated version ‘Minimum Standard for Recyclable Design - Edition 2024’, which was agreed with the Federal Environment Agency (UBA). The sixth edition of the minimum standard is not only intended to help companies optimise national recycling infrastructures and increase recycling volumes. It is also intended to help companies prepare for the planned EU Packaging Ordinance (PPWR), according to a statement from the ZSVR. The updated minimum standard is to provide more clarity and precision. It would clarify that separate packaging components must be assessed separately. This allowed companies to determine the recyclability of packaging consisting of different components in an even more differentiated manner. This was also in line with the planned regulations of the PPWR. The results of the current survey by the Federal Environment Agency (UBA) on the ‘Practice of sorting and recycling packaging’ have also been incorporated into the new minimum standard. In order to further develop the minimum standard, the agency is analysing annually how likely it is that packaging that has been disposed of correctly will be sorted accordingly and recycled to a high standard. The analysis in 2022/2023 came to the conclusion that capacities for previously non-recyclable packaging materials (so-called rejects) from the recycling of liquid cartons (FKN) had increased significantly compared to the 2023 minimum standard. According to the study, significantly more plastic and aluminium components have been recycled to a high material quality in sorting and recycling plants. In addition, sorting plants for lightweight packaging (LVP) would be increasingly able to sort small-format flexible PE films and make them available for recycling. The consequence of this for the 2024 minimum standard is that the previously mandatory individual verification of plastic and aluminium content in FKN will only be listed as recommended in future. In addition, the ZSVR expert group reacted to the improved results in the LVP sorting plants and removed the size criterion as a prerequisite for high-quality recycling of flexible plastic films.
 
Sources:

• ZSVR press release (29.8.2024)
• Photo: © Alana Harris, unsplash.com (symbolic image)