The consumption of disposable packaging has increased noticeably during the coronavirus pandemic. People are ordering more "to go" or having food delivered to their homes. In view of the rising mountains of packaging waste, the German Federation for the Environment and Nature Conservation (BUND) is calling on Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze to use the revision of the Packaging Act to introduce standardized reusable systems.
According to the current draft of the amendment, many companies are free to decide whether they offer reusable alternatives at all. However, BUND believes that environmentally friendly packaging must be made mandatory and easily accessible to everyone.
It is particularly clear in the packaging sector how carelessly we use plastic for disposable items: Food and drinks are sometimes only packaged for a few minutes in a material whose production used valuable resources and which subsequently pollutes the environment for decades.
