In the corona pandemic, many people use urban parks.
Pizza boxes are clogging the trash cans more and more often.
Is there a deposit for pizza boxes now?
Cities are sounding the alarm: they are groaning under the flood of pizza boxes and rubbish in urban parks.
Parks are used intensively, especially in the corona pandemic.
At the municipal level, there is a demand for a deposit for pizza boxes.
Here you can find the Corona-News from Bavaria.
We also offer you the current case numbers in Bavaria on a map.
Nuremberg - Public parks have been used particularly intensively since the Corona * pandemic.
Many people picnic there in the open air.
This often includes
pizza
- transported in a bulky cardboard box.
These clog the trash cans or pile up next to them.
Many municipalities are sounding the
alarm
, because
they have to spend
millions
every year to
dispose of packaging and plastic waste from
trash cans
and the environment
.
Nuremberg sounds the alarm: the amount of garbage increases sharply in Corona times
The
flood of pizza
boxes
"has become a symbol of the increase in
garbage
in the Corona * time," said the city of Nuremberg, for example.
In the city's green spaces, there was a significant increase in
packaging
waste
during the pandemic
- in addition to pizza
boxes
, especially
to-go coffee mugs
and bottles.
Similar complaints recently came from Hamburg and Magdeburg.
According to a nationwide study, packaging and plastic waste recently made up almost half of all street garbage, also because of the abundance of to-go packaging.
Because they often take decades to decompose, single-use products and plastic-containing packaging are particularly harmful to the environment.
Against this background,
Environment Minister Svenja Schulze
(SPD) recently emphasized that she wanted to ask the distributors of such packaging to pay more for the collection and recycling of waste.
Approval comes from the German Association of Towns and Municipalities and the German Association of Cities.
Flood of rubbish in Corona time: "The alternative must be reusable"
However, according to Schulze, the redistribution of costs is
not
enough to protect the
environment
.
Even simply replacing plastic with cardboard packaging is not expedient: “The alternative must be reusable,” demanded the minister.
The
German Environmental Aid
(DUH) specifically calls for a binding reusable quota.
At the municipal level, there is a demand for a
deposit for pizza
boxes and other to-go packaging.
This promises clear relief when cleaning public spaces, according to the city of Nuremberg *.
"There should be a uniform regulation for all cities and municipalities," says Third Mayor
Christian Vogel
(SPD).
A change to the Packaging Act and the expansion of a deposit obligation beyond bottles would be a matter for the
federal government.
As of today, the public barbecue areas in # Nuremberg have been released again.
Please note the still applicable contact restriction and keep the minimum distance of 1.5 meters.
Celebrating in parks and green spaces is prohibited.
https://t.co/GwT8jnTmjf pic.twitter.com/OSUBIuTAL8
- City of Nuremberg (@nuernberg_de) September 2, 2020
Corona: Pizza boxes are stacked in parks - the pizza maker is concerned
However, the Federal Environment Ministry does not consider this to be sensible.
Particularly in the
corona pandemic,
there are hygienic objections due to the often heavy soiling of the containers, says a ministry spokesman.
Antonio Furnari, a pizza maker from Greven, considers a deposit regulation to be hygienically questionable.
“It's less appetizing because there is always food residue in the boxes.” He also has a
fear
: “I think that a
deposit scheme
would bring fewer customers.” The takeaway and delivery business is primarily a convenience factor.
Corona pandemic in Bavaria: pizza boxes are stacked in parks - is reusable packaging coming?
The idea of
reusable pizza packaging
is basically interesting, but difficult to implement, says the pizza maker: "You have to think about the material." Cardboard is short-lived and can
soften
through
heat
.
In the end, the restaurateurs were left with the disposal of the packaging materials.
Unfortunately, boxes can't be made more foldable, says Furnari, because the boxes need a certain basic stability.
That is why the tried and tested format cannot be changed so easily.
"However, the boxes can be taken apart again in two or three steps and are more space-saving."
Ecological packaging for pizza: "If the price is right ..."
One observes ecological advances in the
pizza industry
with interest despite deposit skepticism, says Furnari.
For example, a company that manufactures napkins recently developed a biodegradable
pizza box
- but such packaging materials are still
simply too expensive
for
restaurateurs
.
“A lot still needs to happen in this regard.
If the
price is right
, we will be happy to help convert to such boxes. "
Video: Söder takes a special route with Corona rules - that remains different in Bavaria
You can always read all the news from Nuremberg and the surrounding area as well as all of Bavaria with us.
* Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editors network.