Study Federal Environment Agency

The study determines the amount of packaging put on the market in Germany (packaging consumption) for the material-groups glass, plastics, paper, aluminum, tin plate, other steel, composite materials, wood and other packaging materials. Aside from the packaging used in Germany, the calculation of the packaging consumption also includes the determination of filled exports and filled imports.

The result is that 18.72 M t of packaging were used and accrued as waste in Germany 2017. Overall, 18.12 M t were recovered, thereof 13.09 M t material recycling and 5.04 M t energy recovery. In addition, Germany recovered 2.10 M t of imported packaging waste.

In addition to the numbers required for reporting, this report also discusses developments and reasons for packaging consumption. Furthermore, there is a discussion to the consequences of Implementing Decision EU 2019/665 on the Packaging Directive for the future survey.