According to their own data, the “dual systems” have met their legally prescribed recovery and recycling quotas in 2021. This was announced by the Gemeinsame Stelle dualer Systeme Deutschlands (Cologne, Germany; www.muelltrennung-wirkt.de), an industry association of waste management companies such as BellandVision, Der Grüne Punkt, Interseroh, PreZero Dual, and Veolia.

Across all material fractions, a total of around 5.9 mn t of packaging from private households was collected, sorted, and recycled, the statement said with reference to figures from Germany’s central packaging register, Zentrale Stelle Verpackungsregister (ZSVR; Osnabrück; www.verpackungsregister.org). This is about 3% more than 2020.

Related: Proposed EU quotas on reusable plastics are incomprehensible, says Germany's IK

Of the plastic packaging collected by the dual system, 65.5% was recycled – which is seven percentage points above the legally mandated quota, as the lobby association of the dual systems emphasises. At 76.2% and 69.6%, respectively, the statutory recycling quotas were also exceeded for beverage cartons and other packaging made of composite materials.

Exports of plastic packaging declined in 2021. As the ZSVR disclosed, almost 83% of it were recycled domestically and exactly 17.42% were exported. For the most part, the destination countries for these exports were within the EU, which is seen as progress towards keeping reusable resources withing the EU. In 2020, the percentage of exported plastic packaging had still been at 19.4%.