The district of Erding is declaring war on packaging waste and wants to establish a reusable system for retail and catering.
Selling take-away food is the only chance for gastronomy to stay afloat financially in times of a pandemic.
The downside: tons of packaging waste.
The problem already existed before Corona, a flood of coffee mugs, pizza boxes and fast food bags.
The district now wants to declare war on these mountains of rubbish and introduce a reusable system that is as uniform as possible.
To this end, the district council's environmental committee had received two proposals from the CSU and the ÖDP.
They were approved unanimously.
The first step is now a dialogue with gastronomy and the food trade such as bakers and butchers.
Katrin Neueder from the district administration reported that every German generates 230 kilos of packaging waste per year.
320,000 disposable cups ended up in the garbage every hour.
Disposable dishes and to-go packaging recently filled the landfill with 346,000 tons.
The mountain of rubbish grew again during the pandemic.
After all: in the meantime, plastic cutlery and drinking straws as well as styrofoam boxes are no longer allowed to be produced across the EU.
In its application, according to Andreas Neumaier of the waste management sector, the ÖDP demands that the initiative “once without please” be included in the plastic avoidance concept that was decided a year ago and that retailers and restaurants and bars participate.
The CSU's proposal goes beyond that.
The district should determine which reusable concepts already exist here and determine which system would be most popular in order to limit itself to one that would increase acceptance among sellers and consumers.
Neueder had brought several systems with him, including the now widely used one from Recup.
She also reported that the district administration had prepared a survey to get the opinion of the food trade, food trade and gastronomy. They should indicate which packaging they issue, whether there are deposit systems and, if not, which one they would be most comfortable with. In addition, Neueder announced an information event "to remove hurdles and obstacles". Among other things, there is still the question of the deposit to be clarified and whether there is the possibility of exchanging used packaging for fresh packaging the next time you shop.
Stephan Treffler (ÖDP) called for staying power.
"It would be bad if we got stuck halfway." Gertrud Eichinger (SPD) advised to involve the catering industry at an early stage, "in order to use their expertise." Monika Wenger (Greens) urged the introduction of reusable packaging at the farmers' market.
Wolfgang Fritz (Greens) demanded the same for schools and clinics.
Ulrike Scharf (CSU) recalled that in 2017, as Environment Minister, she held an information event with the then new start-up Recup in Erding, which was mainly about coffee mugs.
But the project did not progress.
“There is an urgent need for action.
In Germany, three billion coffee cups end up in the garbage every year, ”Scharf calculated.
System restaurants such as McDonald's and Burger King were also on board.