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By processing and recycling packaging, we are helping to conserve reserves of natural raw materials and to protect the environment. |
And this is how the system works.
Using limited resources efficiently.
Businesses use valuable raw materials to produce their goods. Raw materials, however, are a scarce and finite commodity. By recycling different kinds of materials (glass, paper, plastics, metals), the period of time that raw materials are found in product cycles is extended, existing raw materials are conserved and the problem of waste is reduced.
The central target of German environmental policy is to avoid the production of waste. The amount of waste produced by our consumer society can be reduced by collecting this waste and recycling it. For this reason, waste should be separated as far as possible before it is collected so that it can then be recycled.
There are, in principle, two systems with which people can dispose of their waste: the collection or the "on-the-go" system. With the collection system, consumers dispose of their packaging waste at home, placing it in the appropriate wheelie bin or recycling bag. These are then collected or emptied at regular intervals directly from their homes. The "on-the-go" system involves people taking their recyclables to a central collection point (e.g. to a bottle bank or central container for waste paper).
The packaging materials are separated from each other and then disposed of in the appropriate container. Paper is put in containers or wheelie bins; glass, too, belongs in a container for recyclables. Light sales packaging is, for the most part, also thrown away into containers. In many regions in Germany, households use yellow wheelie bins or yellow bags for their light sales packaging which are then emptied or collected directly from their homes.
The EKO-PUNKT® dual system |
EKO-PUNKT® officially entered the German market as a national dual system business in the autumn of 2007. The company works together very closely with the local authorities who are responsible for public waste management. EKO-PUNKT® uses the existing waste collection systems and waste containers in the region in question as well as the structures already set up for collecting recyclables. This means that private households are not affected by any changes and their waste is collected as it was in the past. |
5th amendment to the Packaging Ordinance
Our work is based on the German Packaging Ordinance, the VerpackV, which aims to prevent and recycle waste packaging