Reduce, Reuse & Recycle: Our recycling guide

COOP PLAN3T x UNWASTE x OCLEAN

The best rubbish is never created in the first place. That's for sure. But what happens when it does? How do you sort rubbish properly? What about the plastic cup with yoghurt residue, the empty cup of hummus and the oily pizza box? Do you separate metal lids from jam jars and do you have to wash them before disposing of them? We asked ourselves these questions together with Julia from PLAN3T, and Marie and Hannah from OCLEAN. You can read our answers and our recycling guide here:

To get you started, here are a few facts and figures on recycling:

• No country consumes more packaging waste than Germany.
• Since 1950, only 9% of all existing plastic in the world has been recycled. What about the rest? Some has been burned and most is still lying around everywhere. In landfills, in waterways, you name it.
• In Germany, 5.2 million tonnes of plastic packaging waste were generated in 2017.
• Of this, 60% was energetically utilised, i.e. incinerated. Since the heat is used further, this is referred to as "recycling as energy or thermal recovery".
• 38% of the 5.2 million tonnes were recycled.
• Of the 38%, just over 35% were sold abroad. What happens to it is not really known. That's 14% of all plastic waste.
• Only 15.6% was ultimately processed for the manufacture of plastic products. Of this, only 7.2% is of the same quality as virgin plastic that can be reprocessed into new products.
• Recycled plastic accounts for 2.8% of the plastic produced in Germany.
• A final piece of good news: there are raw materials that are already well recycled, such as paper, glass and metal. Here, the rate is partly over 90%.

So we are still far away from a circular economy. A 100% recycling of all plastics is currently not even possible. Why?

• More and more types of materials on the market: More packaging materials are being developed every year, making it difficult for the recycling industry to keep up with its sorting machines in order to separate and recycle everything.
• Raw materials are cheaper than recycling materials: The recycling industry has developed only slowly in recent decades and is not efficient. For the packaging industry, new raw materials are cheaper than recycled materials.
• Bad packaging design:Waste is a flaw in product design. We live in a flood of products. Supermarket shelves are crowded and competition is fierce. Brands therefore need to stand out: Colourful and elaborate packaging is important to draw attention to the product and encourage people to buy it.
• Sorting waste in Germany is a hollow debt, not a debt to bring in: The German recycling model varies from state to state and from city cleaning service to city cleaning service. There is simply a lack of clear education of the population on how what belongs where in the rubbish. Someone from Stuttgart, for example, has to separate waste differently than someone in Hamburg.

A rethink on many levels

The majority of waste separation and disposal is relatively easy. Once you have got to grips with the specifics a little bit, you don't forget it so quickly and so, little by little, you get a feel for the right way to deal with waste. It is important to understand that everyone bears responsibility when buying a product and that waste can only be recycled properly if it is also disposed of correctly or perhaps avoided altogether.

You could, for example, look at the products during or after shopping and ask:

1. What kind of packaging is this?

Can the materials be reused and easily separated for recycling?

2. Can the packaging perhaps be avoided by buying a product from another brand or can I perhaps also do without this product?

Now let's get down to brass tacks: Where does what rubbish belong?

With all the different types of plastic and mixing ratios, it is not easy to dispose of everything properly. Nevertheless, we can all do our bit to ensure that resources do not become waste directly, but are returned to the cycle as important recyclables.