Waste | Resources

Producers subject to mandatory registration must be registered in LUCID packaging registry starting 1 January 2019

Now available in English: UBA's biannual "What Matters" magazine covers current topics in environmental protection. The first edition “Recycling” takes an in-depth look at the circular economy in Germany with a special focus on plastics. The magazine offers data and facts and discusses current problems and possible solutions in Germany’s circular economy.

The Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) awarded the Blue Angel ecolabel to the Bioblos children's construction blocks from Austria at a ceremony in Berlin today. It is the second toy to be awarded the Blue Angel.

Germany narrowly missed the collection rate of 45 percent for waste electronic and electrical equipment (WEEE) in 2016. Large household appliances in particular are not being collected in sufficient numbers.

Keeping materials in circulation and preventing them from becoming waste is only possible if the design of a product is adapted accordingly. The possibilities offered by ecodesign were the topic of the Circular Design Forum in Berlin. Here, the results of the project “EcoDesign Circle” were presented, in which the UBA plays the leading role. Documentation and additional materials are now online.

Designers can also contribute to solving the problem of marine litter – with the right choice of materials when designing products, for instance. This was the topic of a workshop that was initiated by the UBA in June 2018 with approximately 30 participants from the Baltic Sea Region. The results and specific recommendations for action have now been published.

A total of 18.16 million tonnes of packaging waste was generated in Germany in 2016. This is an increase of .05% over 2015.

The European Commission issued a legislative proposal with seven measures for reducing waste on European beaches. The main aim of the proposal is to reduce the input of the most frequent plastic waste categories (top litter items). These are mainly single-use products such as food containers, cups, plastic bottles and cigarette butts, but also balloon sticks.

From 27 to 29 November 2018, the German Environment Agency (UBA) is hosting the fourth European Resources Forum (ERF) and National Resources Forum (NRF) in Berlin. Both conferences have established themselves as important platforms for the scientific and political debate about a sustainable use of natural resources in Germany, Europe and internationally.

The German Environment Agency welcomes the EU’s initiative to change the use of plastics in Europe. The European Commission presented its Plastics Strategy on January 16th.

The availability of raw materials is determined by more than technical-geological, economic and political factors alone: the environmental risks of mining also has an impact.

The agencies from nearly 20 EU countries responsible for the enforcement of the European WEEE Directive have formed a network. UBA initiated the constitutional meeting on 7-8 September 2017. The representatives from all participating EU-countries agreed to cooperate more closely in the future in order to prosecute non-compliant producers who trade across borders more effectively.