Finland strengthens packaging waste recycling management in Germany

According to experts, Finland has been strictly managing the re-use of packaging and packaging of goods through the formulation and improvement of relevant laws and regulations over the years. Therefore, in the markets across Finland, there is not only a problem of excessive packaging of goods, but also manufacturers and shops attach great importance to the recovery and reuse of packaging of goods in order to reduce environmental pollution.

Finland has strict management of all kinds of commodity packaging. In order to reduce the waste of packaging and the pollution to the environment, Finland’s relevant laws clearly stipulate the re-use of packaging and packaging of goods.

According to Finland’s relevant laws and regulations, Finnish manufacturers should try to limit the volume and weight of packaging to the minimum when packaging products. However, product packaging must meet safety and hygiene standards and be accessible to ordinary consumers. Acceptance; In the design and production process of commodity packaging, the recycling and reuse of packaging must be considered, and the adverse impact on the environment must be minimized; in the process of packaging, packaging materials must be completed. It may contain less harmful substances so that it will not harm the environment when it is disposed of. In Finland, manufacturers produce goods in strict accordance with the law. The cost of packaging generally accounts for only 2% to 10% of the value of goods. Among them, cosmetics and food packaging costs are relatively high, but the packaging cost is only about 5% of the total value of the product.

Apart from the strict management of commodity packaging in Finland, Finland also attaches great importance to the recycling and reuse of commodity packaging in order to reduce the environmental pollution caused by packaging waste.

In September of this year, Finland revised the "Law on Waste" to reduce the reuse of packaging waste while reducing packaging waste. According to the new "Rubbish Law", manufacturers with an annual turnover of more than 1 million euros will be responsible for the recycling of product packaging while providing products and commodities to the domestic market. In Finland, the packaging and recycling company collects the reusable goods packaging fees from the manufacturers of packaging and the importers of packaged goods, and uses the collected fees for the recycling and use of packaging.

Germany also attaches great importance to the recycling of waste packaging. In 1991, Germany began to implement the "Regulations on Packaging", and for the first time comprehensively regulates the reuse and use ratio of discarded packaging, and forced manufacturers and distributors to be responsible for the recovery and disposal of their product packaging. In August 1998, according to practical experience, the regulations were supplemented and revised. At present, the German government is embarking on the first edition of the "Regulations on Packaging" and plans to impose a "deposit" of 25 cents on all disposable beverages.

Today, although the “Regulations on Packaging” has been revised several times, the basic principles of the Regulations have not changed. First, try to avoid the generation of packaging waste. Once the packaging waste cannot be avoided, priority should be given to reuse, especially the use of materials, and then consider the use of energy and Harmless removal. In order to limit the use of disposable packaging, from January 1, 2003 onwards, in Germany to buy one-time packaging of mineral water, beer, and Coke, lemon juice and other carbonated drinks, must pay 25 euro cents or 50 euro cents of the bottleneck fee . After the customer has returned the bottle, the merchant will return the deposit. In October this year, with the approval of the Federal Senate, the German government has proposed a new "Packing Regulations (Revised Draft)", which plans to impose a 25 Euro bottle-cutting fee on all disposable beverages. In other words, beverages such as juices, milk, and wine, which are currently packaged in one go, will soon be levied. According to the "Regulations on Packaging," manufacturers and distributors are obligated to collect the goods they sell to consumers for free, to reuse them, or to use them instead of being handled by the public sanitation department. If the business itself fulfills the recovery obligation, it must also submit proof of the utilization ratio. If a business wants to use its own hands to fulfill its recycling obligations, it can recycle and use waste packaging through a management agency called the “Darling System of Germany”. In the "binary system", producers and distributors can obtain permission by signing contracts and paying unequal fees. They are marked on their product packaging with the "green dot" logo implemented by the "dual German system" (from A curved arrow formed by the head and tail phase, meaning recycling. With this sign, manufacturers and merchants no longer need to consider the recycling of their product packaging, and the "binary system" is responsible for handling. The organization itself does not have packaging waste sorting and utilization implemented. It contracts with waste packaging sorting companies and they are responsible for collection, sorting and recycling. The packaging materials handled by the packaging sorting company will be re-entered into the material cycle and become secondary raw materials or processed into recycled products.

However, as additional packaging means additional recycling obligations and additional costs, German manufacturers and distributors are increasingly placing emphasis on simplifying and optimizing packaging and even giving up on dispensable packaging. For example, due to the “green dot” logo usage cost linked to the quantity, weight, and material of packaged goods, many companies began to simplify packaging and create conditions for the recycling and recycling of packaging materials in order to reduce costs and increase product price competitiveness.

According to reports, since the introduction of the regulations, the annual packaging consumption has been reduced by 1.4 million tons. The effective mechanism of this regulation has promoted the continuous improvement of the recycling rate of packaging materials in Germany. In 2003, Germany recovered 5.99 million tons of packaging materials and 72.6 kilograms per capita.

Experts believe that the experience of recycling waste packaging abroad is worth learning from. We must pay attention to the use of laws and regulations and strictly manage waste packaging. In particular, manufacturers and distributors are obligated to pay for the free recycling of goods and packaging, prompting manufacturers to pay more and more attention to simplifying and optimizing the packaging of goods.