What to do with our Christmas packaging waste?

24 December 2022

Good Morning,

What will happen to the packaging waste that will be lying around the Christmas tree tonight after the distribution of presents?

Will it end up at the landfill near Meiningen I passed on yesterday's hike in Thuringia, where I stay for the holiday season (not at the landfill, but in Thuringia)?

Rather unlikely. Since 2005, it has generally no longer been possible to dump household waste in Germany.

The probability that the packaging waste will be recycled is quite high.

The recycling rate of cardboard and paper is more than 99 per cent in Germany. The rate for plastic is rising but is still significantly lower (around 55 per cent).

But the need for landfills will (unfortunately) not go away in the coming decades (even if their number has almost halved in Germany since 2005, from about 2000 to 1000).

Construction waste and excavated earth end up in landfills, as do materials that are not (yet) recyclable. This also includes slag and filter dust that is produced during combustion in waste incineration plants.

Landfills are a seemingly necessary evil in today's consumer society. Will we eventually live in a world where landfills will no longer be needed because we will then live in a closed-loop economy in which all products are recycled into new, high-quality products after use? That sounds like a good time.

Let's look forward to the future!

Onwards,

Johannes

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