Today, the German Federal Statistical Office (Destatis) published new data on the volume of packaging waste in Germany for 2019. The results show that German consumers generated an average of 72 kilogram of packaging waste per capita.
The volume of packaging waste collected in yellow bins, glass or paper containers or comparable systems increased by almost 0.3 million tons to a total of 5.7 million tons.
These are further details:
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With an average of 72 kilogram per capita in 2019, private packaging waste increased by an average of four kilogram compared to the previous year.
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Light plastic packaging, light metals and composite materials made up the largest share of private packaging waste – with 32 kilogram per capita and a total of 2.6 million tons.
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This is followed by glass packaging with 23 kilogram per person (1.9 million tons) and packaging out of paper and cardboard with 17 kilogram per person (1.4 million tons).
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After waste sorting, 5.4 million tons of collected packaging waste was passed on to waste treatment plants or recycling companies. Nearly 74 percent (4.2 million tons) of this packaging was then recycled.
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16 percent of packaging waste (0.9 million tons) was used for energy, for instance in combustion plants.
Source: Destatis
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