Goodbye, packaging!

About half of all discarded packaging comes from private households. And in many cases, it’s wholly unnecessary, for example, when it’s used for wrapping herbs or individual pieces of candy. Since 2019, to draw attention to the issue, the non-profit association Environmental Action Germany (Deutsche Umwelthilfe e.V.) has been awarding its “Golden Vulture” prize for the most nonsensical plastic packaging. But knowledge alone isn’t enough. Of course, consumers can reduce the mountains of packaging through their consumption behaviour. But supermarkets also need to adapt their range of products, and companies need to make do without foil and other packaging.

Projects and examples

Zero waste

More and more stores are offering their goods without any disposable packaging whatsoever. But it’s also necessary for customers to get active: they need to bring along their own containers for rice, their own bottles for milk and their own cloth bags for vegetables. The product ranges of these supermarkets include almost all essential goods. The Zero Waste Map (zerowastemap.org) gives you an overview of where to find your nearest zero-waste shop. No zero-waste shop in your neighbourhood? Health food shops, farm shops and weekly markets sell many goods without packaging too. Unpackaged products are also available online, for instance at tante-olga.de or original-unverpackt.de.

Waste consulting

There’s an abundance of tips and tricks for avoiding waste in the household. Quite a few people feel overwhelmed by the sheer mass of advice. Therefore, many associations, initiatives and authorities offer on-site visits to private households to show people how to better dispose of their waste – or to prevent it from being produced in the first place. To find your nearest local waste advisor, check the websites of NABU (The Nature and Biodiversity Conservation Union) or similar organisations.

Liquid pearls that drop from the tap

Whether in glass or plastic bottles, mineral water from the supermarket needs packaging, which must be produced, then later cleansed and finally recycled; in addition, the beverage crates are transported long distances to the supermarkets. Compared to water from the tap, the difference in the impact on the climate is enormous: if all Berliners gave up bottled water, the city could save 100,000 tons in CO₂ per year and avoid gigantic amounts of waste. The Berlin-based association “a tip: tap” aims to make tap water the number one thirst quencher in Germany. To make tap water accessible at all times, the initiative campaigns for setting up more public drinking fountains in urban areas. In schools and businesses, they promote the “liquid pearls that drop from the tap” as a drinking source.

To take away please!

For many people, takeaway food and beverages are part of their everyday lives. Discarded cups and boxes then pile up in the rubbish. In Berlin alone, around 20,000 disposable cups are used every hour. The Better World Cup initiative encourages takeaway users to bring their own thermal mugs or their favourite cups. Cafés can register as so-called refill stations. At these shops, customers can not only bring their own reusable cups, but also receive a discount for using them. The Tiffin Project has put some thought into the question of how to reduce to zero the waste of takeaway food from the snack bar around the corner. Their solution is to hand out meals in stainless steel boxes. Customer have up to a week to return them. Restaurants or customers can participate by registering on the project website.

ReplacePlastic

With this smartphone app, customers can inform companies that they would like to see less packaging. In the supermarket, you scan a product with your smartphone. A pre-formulated message appears, which can be sent directly to the manufacturer.