Following the approval by Germany’s upper house, the Bundesrat, of legislation banning certain single-use plastic products, or SUP, (see Plasteurope.com of 11.11.2020), the German plastics packaging association Industrievereinigung Kunststoffverpackungen (IK, Bad Homburg / Germany; www.kunststoffverpackungen.de) has underlined the key role disposable packaging plays in the catering trade. “The coronavirus pandemic is illustrating the importance of plastic food-service packaging. It is simply indispensable for takeaway and delivery businesses,” IK general manager Martin Engelmann said.

The decision of federal states to reject demands for further packaging bans in Germany have been helpful, he noted, as these would have discriminated against many forms of plastic packaging and promoted materials or composite solutions that were frequently disadvantageous in ecological terms. “Banning readily recyclable plastic packaging doesn’t make ecological sense.” Bans of this kind primarily increase the amount of difficult-to-recycle, paper-plastic composite packaging. Aluminium packaging is also not an option, Engelmann said, because it has the drawback of considerably higher costs and an even larger “CO₂ rucksack” due to its greater weight and energy requirements.

The approved legislation implements the EU directive and bans the marketing of takeaway packaging in expanded polystyrene in Germany as of 3 July 2021. The decisive aspect here is the type of consumption: Containers of this type are banned if the food is to be eaten immediately, i.e. straight out of the container and without any further preparation. The same applies – as reported – for beverage cups in expanded polystyrene. By contrast, EPS boxes for fresh fish, meat, ice-cream and cakes are not part of the EU ban.