Deutsche Umwelthilfe Criticizes Packaging Law, Awards Reuse Innovations

Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH) has criticized Germany's recently passed packaging law, arguing it misses a crucial opportunity to support systemic and financial promotion of reuse systems. The environmental organization stated that the law fails to adequately incentivize the transition away from single-use packaging.

"For a resource-resilient and environmentally friendly packaging industry, we need scalable reuse systems. With the recently passed law for the implementation of packaging law, the Bundestag is continuing on a single-use course," said Barbara Metz, Federal Managing Director of DUH. The organization calls for amendments to ensure a binding and effective financial support mechanism for reuse.

At its fourth German Reuse Conference, which brought together over 550 stakeholders, DUH awarded three companies for their contributions to reuse. The Reuse Innovation Prize recognized dotch for a cross-manufacturer glass reuse system for food packaging, Sykell for its digital platform for optimizing packaging logistics, and Plöckl Media Group for its RFID tracking solution for reusable crates.

Jens Oldenburg, Managing Director of the Foundation Initiative Reuse (SIM), highlighted the need for targeted initial funding to help companies scale their innovations. He noted that while numerous single-use projects have been funded, reuse companies continue to lack necessary support to meet EU packaging regulation goals.

The conference, co-hosted with SIM, emphasized the growing interest in practical reuse solutions and their role in resource independence and regional economic cycles. Speakers included Federal Environment Minister Carsten Schneider and Berlin's Senator for Mobility, Transport, Climate Protection and Environment, Ute Bonde.