Reusable Alliance launches nationwide join-in campaign "Reusable is climate protection" and calls on Environment Minister Lemke to dispense with single-use plastic bottles and cans

The Reusable Alliance is once again launching its major information campaign "Reusable is climate protection" with a participatory campaign for consumers. In the coming months, 16 households will each be able to win a whole year's worth of free drinks in reusable bottles, each worth 1,000 euros, and experience how easy it is to protect the climate with reusable bottles. New figures from the Federal Environment Agency suggest just how important it is to get people excited about reusable bottles, according to which the reusable rate for drinks has fallen to just 42.6 per cent. Also worrying is the rapid increase in environmentally harmful drinks cans, of which 14.5 per cent more were sold compared to the previous year.

The "Reusable Alliance" of environmental and industry associations is therefore calling on Environment Minister Steffi Lemke to finally implement the reusable drinks promotion programme agreed in the coalition agreement: Through a levy on disposable plastic bottles, cans and drinks cartons of at least 20 cents in addition to the deposit.
Barbara Metz, Federal Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe (DUH): "After more than half of her term in office, Environment Minister Steffi Lemke has nothing to show for her efforts to promote reusable beverage packaging. On the contrary: according to the Federal Environment Agency, the reusable quota is actually falling. To prevent this trend from continuing, we urgently need a statutory reusable packaging subsidy. It is unacceptable that market-dominating discounters such as Aldi and Lidl still do not have to offer reusable bottles. The permanent undercutting of the legal reusable quota must not be allowed to continue. Steffi Lemke must counteract this with a levy of at least 20 cents on single-use plastic bottles and cans."

Jens Oldenburg, Managing Director of Stiftung Initiative Mehrweg: "A levy on single-use bottles would not only make environmental impacts visible in the price, but would also lead to consumers choosing reusable bottles much more often. The positive effect on the environment would be considerable. If all non-alcoholic beverages were filled exclusively in reusable bottles, up to 1.4 million tonnes of CO2 could be saved every year."

Günther Guder, Managing Director of Pro Mehrweg: "The EU packaging regulation passed by the European Parliament will not lead to more reusable drinks packaging in Germany. The EU reusable quota of 10 per cent for drinks is far below the 42 per cent currently achieved in Germany, not to mention the 70 per cent in the Packaging Act. In addition, the EU packaging regulation is riddled with exemptions to the quota exemption. The clear signal to Environment Minister Lemke is therefore: promoting reusable packaging remains a national task and must be tackled immediately."

Roland Demleitner, Managing Director of Private Brauereien Deutschland: "Current figures from the Federal Environment Agency show a strong growth in cans to over 15 per cent market share in the beer sector, which is increasingly at the expense of reusable bottles. This means that this container, of all things, which is one of the most environmentally damaging types of beverage packaging, is growing disproportionately. This thwarts all efforts to improve climate protection. Environment Minister Lemke must finally act and introduce a one-way tax on cans too."

Dirk Reinsberg, Chairman of the Federal Association of German Beverage Wholesalers: "Around 145,000 jobs across Germany are associated with the reusable system, including in structurally weak and rural areas. However, in order to preserve them, we need predictability and investment security. Against the backdrop of small and medium-sized reusable businesses weakened by the coronavirus pandemic and inflation, a strong signal from politicians in favour of binding reusable promotion is more necessary than ever. Lip service and formulations in coalition agreements are useless if they are not acted upon."

Andreas Vogel, Chairman of the Association of German Beverage Retailers: "With our 'Reusable is climate protection' campaign, we are informing consumers about the ecological benefits of climate-friendly reusable bottles. As there are unfortunately still major difficulties in distinguishing between single-use and reusable bottles at the point of sale, it is urgently necessary that, in addition to the legally required labelling on the shelves, the drinks packaging itself is also labelled as reusable or single-use. And politicians must clearly communicate that reusable packaging is the most environmentally and climate-friendly solution."

The advantages of reusable bottles are manifold: reusable bottles can be refilled up to 50 times, save resources such as oil and gas compared to single-use plastic and beverage cans and create significantly more jobs.