In 2022, the amount of plastic packaging recycled in Germany increased by 2.1 percentage points compared with the year prior. German market research institute Gesellschaft für Verpackungsmarktforschung (GVM, Mainz; www.gvmonline.de/en) reported in its latest study, Recycling Balance for Packaging, that plastic packaging achieved recycling rates of 65.6% in relation to the overall market.

Consumption of plastic packaging decreased by 87,000 t (2.6%) in 2022 compared with the previous year and amounted to 3.24 mn t. Private consumption fell by 3.4% year-on-year to 1.98 mn t and was thus at the same level as before 2015. In the commercial sector, consumption fell by 1.4% to 1.26 mn t.

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Plastics accounted for almost 17% of total packaging consumption in 2022. Paper, cardboard, and paperboard combined account for the largest share of packaging consumption at just under 40%, followed by glass (around one third), metal (6%), and aluminium packaging (2%). Across all materials, the recycling rate rose by 0.6 percentage points compared with the previous year, to 83.9%.

In January 2022, the prescribed recycling quotas in Germany were increased when the Packaging Act came into force. The current figure for plastic packaging is 63%.