International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

This highlights the fact that there might be limits to what such schemes might seek to
achieve. In particular, some schemes, including Flanders, have tended to limit their
ambition in respect of collecting mixed non-bottle plastics, mainly on grounds of the
cost related to the environmental benefits, without otherwise limiting their ambition in
terms of packaging waste recycling (see Section 15.5.1.2 of these Annexes).
14.13 Prerequisites for Introduction
A waste management hierarchy is established in Art. 4 of the German Act for
Promoting Closed Substance Cycle Waste Management and Ensuring Environmentally
Compatible Waste Disposal (Kreislaufwirtschafts- and Abfallgesetz – KrW/AbfG) and
also in the European Waste Framework Directive (75/442/EEC) in Art. 3. To comply
with these clauses, waste generation must, firstly be prevented by means of reducing
its amount and its hazardousness. Secondly, waste must be subjected to recycling or
for energy recovery (i.e. using waste as a substitute fuel). Only in a third step, when
minimisation or recovery is not possible, waste should be disposed of.
Besides the waste hierarchy a legislative act is necessary that regulates the producer
responsibility for a product group (e.g. like the Packaging ordinance does for
packaging). Such a legislative act makes the duty concrete and binding. In this
context it is important to notice that the producers are only released from their
producer responsibility by the “Green Dot”, because it runs beside the normal waste
collection, as long as they run the separate collection system.
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