Ordering food from takeaway restaurants or just takeaway, delivery of goods online, the parcels closest to the mail – mountains of packaging inevitably grow like a snowball. It is expected that by the end of 2020, will be formed by 2.26 million tonnes of household waste anymore. Even before the “crown” per capita annually, Germany had about 500 pounds of municipal solid waste is more than the EU average. But it was the Germans rightly considered to be one of the Champions for disposal and recycling. How they did it and what lies behind the concept of “circular economy”, which long ago staked the German processing companies and the government, understood the “RG”.
In this way the country arose not yesterday. In the seventies of the last century in Germany began to thoroughly sort food waste, paper, glass, plastic and other packaging that paved the way for the modern system of containers for separate waste collection. There and the legislative framework regulating the process.
Since then the emphasis has shifted. Now the main priority for Germany and the EU in General is in an effort to prevent or minimize the generation of wastes and make them suitable for reuse. In the new conditions, producers should think about how to increase resource and energy intensity of their products – in fact the source of future waste.
“such measures and environmental design low-waste and legkoatletichesky packaging, and regeneration and repair of products, allowing to extend its service life. Next in rank in that hierarchy, followed by a secondary processing (recycling), then to all other utilization, including energy, and in last place – the disposal of waste at landfills”, – told “RG” Julia Grishankov, head of representative office of the German society for international cooperation (GIZ) GmbH.
as for polygons, the most recognized harmful method of waste disposal on the planet, since 2005, Germany banned the landfilling of untreated waste. For disposal to the landfill, you can send only the “inert” mineral waste.
However, as he wrote, “RG”, and before that the country was not a classic landfill, which would have taken out everything. Of course, some places remained landfills legacy – a legacy of the 1960-1970-ies, but their reorganization three years ago was nearly finished. While the Germans manage to avoid sending to landfills, even the most progressive, about 200 million tons of garbage – and that’s a huge contribution to the preservation of the environment.
Germany and really has something to boast about. According to the German society for international cooperation, last year the share of recycling of municipal solid waste in Germany was about 66 percent.
“withOoty circular economy in Germany is a high-tech industry that allows you to extract from waste, secondary raw materials and to use them as alternative resources. In other words, all the waste generated in Germany, most of them should be back in production and the commodities cycle. This can occur in the form of reuse, e.g. reusable packaging for beverages, production recyclates (materials obtained from the recycling of plastic. – Approx. ed.), getting heat or electricity, biogas or compost. As we can see, the path of waste in the circular economy are different, but they have one goal: to stay as long as possible in the economic cycle – said Julia grishenkova. In 2019 in Germany came into force a new law about packing.
it includes measures to encourage manufacturers to use recyclable and sustainable materials, increased control of execution of obligations under the extended producer responsibility (EPR). Thanks to the creation of a new Agency, the “Central register of packaging”, the Germans intend to gradually cover all those present in the market of manufacturers subject to the requirements of the ROP, and more closely coordinate the work of the system operators responsible for achieving the targets. The increase in regulations regarding the disposal of packing provided in two stages in 2019 and 2022. For example, according to new figures 2022, the share of recycling for plastic will be 63 per cent, glass, aluminum, ferrous metals, cardboard and paper – 90 percent, and the combined package is not less than 70 percent. In the coming years one should expect amendments in terms of increasing the level of collection and recycling in the Act on electric and electronic devices in Germany.”
the Goal is not taken from the ceiling: the German law should be in line with EU standards, which are constantly evolving. Experts recognize that these plans are very ambitious. As already wrote “RG”, is better in Germany is the case with the recycling of paper and glass containers: here the share of recycling a few years ago has reached 80 percent. With plastic all the way. In 2017, the country produced over 6 million tons of plastic waste, of which only 16 percent were reused. A large part of plastic waste, the Germans burned or exported to foreign countries, including China.
Well, according to the Federal office for the protection of the environment that the portal Deutsche Welle cited in 2019, only about 30 percent of all plastic waste, due to recycling, has served for the production of packaging materials. The fact that the directives and EU regulations impose very high demands on the quality of the packaging toto SkyCity getting the micro-plastic in products, and from there to the human body. Part of the problem could be solved with bioplastics derived from renewable raw materials – wood, sugar beet and even potatoes.
Finally, even before the appearance on the European horizon Swedish Schoolgirls Greta Thunberg in Germany were very popular all sorts of environmental and social shares. For example, the Germans are actively involved in the campaign for “foddering”, or “foodsaver”, i.e. the free transfer of surpluses of products with expiring all those in need through charitable organizations and social networks.
Another pillar of the circular economy – “green energy”, which puts the German government. On the path to “carbon neutral” production, which is stated as a goal for 2050, the Germans are ready to set an example to neighbors in the EU. 20 years later Berlin is committed to reducing the emission of CO2 to 55 percent, bringing the share of renewable energy sources – wind, solar and biomass – to 65 percent in the energy mix of the country. In December 2018 in the Ruhr were closed the last mine, where a century and a half mined coal; now Germany does not produce, but imports (mostly from Russia). By 2035-mu, high – 2038 the country will cease and the generation of brown coal. Furthermore, Germany strongly out of nuclear power, which is in accordance with the new EU standards is no longer considered “green”. Three of the workers while the plant will be disconnected by 2022. In the first half of 2019 “green” sources of energy for the first time surpassed “traditional”, except for gas. For solar panels and wind turbines, and hydro had overall 47.3 per cent produced in the country’s electricity, while coal and nuclear power plants – 43.4 percent.
Svetlana Biesse, General Director of “REMONDIS” (Russia):
– In the 1970-ies the problem of waste disposal at landfills in Germany has become particularly acute: the amount of waste, mainly packaging, has grown every year, and to increase the area of polygons no longer had the opportunity. In 1991 in Germany (first in Europe) was legally introduced “extended producer responsibility” (EPR) for recycling used packaging. Goal: preventing the packing from a cardboard, plastic, metal, glass to landfills. ROP has become the main source of financing of separate collection of waste for each container location, and its subsequent sorting for recycling.
unfortunately, today in Russia under the laws of the ROP there is no mechanism for financing infrastructure separate collection of waste on container platforms in the municipalities. And in fact this is the main objective ROP – through RAzdalnego collection to prevent the ingress of packaging to the landfill and after that send it for recycling.
a High proportion of recycling of MSW in Germany is only possible with the use of technologies of deep processing of waste. And this high-tech expensive equipment. The alternative fuel production, energy production from waste is only minimally compensate for the costs of such equipment.
High environmental standards for the recycling of household waste inevitably associated with high cost of the population for waste management. This is a very important fact. Fee is a resident of Germany for the handling of waste is approximately 10 times higher than the average payment in Russia.
So you need to carry out serious explanatory work with the population on this issue. Today’s payments in the Russian regions for waste management can be only used to organize the collection, waste disposal, landfilling on a new, more modern landfill and a sorting of mixed waste, which will reduce the volume of waste for disposal not more than 5-10 percent.
