Reusable offer obligation? - Call for improvements

Environment - Reusable offer obligation? - Call for improvements

Almost a year after the obligation to offer reusable takeaway food came into force, environmental and consumer protection groups are still complaining about the lack of implementation and controls. Thomas Fischer, Head of Recycling Management at Deutsche Umwelthilfe (German Environmental Aid), for example, speaks of a "tubular failure" and calls for improvements.

"What started badly at the beginning of the year has unfortunately continued like a red thread until the end of this year," Fischer told the German Press Agency. In several rounds of test visits, catering businesses had reported reusable rates in the low single-digit percentage range. Compared to the original targets, these are "desolate results".

Since the beginning of the year, restaurants, bistros and cafés that sell food to go must offer reusable packaging in addition to disposable packaging - provided they use disposable plastic packaging. There must be a reusable alternative for drinks of all kinds. Exceptions apply to smaller stores that are no larger than 80 square meters and have a maximum of five employees. However, customers must be given the opportunity to fill their own containers. Violations could result in fines of up to 10,000 euros.

Lack of controls, lack of sanctions

According to Fischer, the law suffers above all from a lack of controls and a lack of sanctions for violations. "Without pressure, without coercion, nothing will change the fact that many restaurateurs do not take the obligation to offer reusable food seriously." In addition, consumers are still poorly informed and often do not even notice the information about reusable containers. Suppliers are apparently trying to "deliberately keep reusable containers off their backs by making the information poorly presented and easy to overlook".

The simplest lever for better customer information - namely verbal information from sales staff - was not found in a single case in almost 100 test visits throughout the year, said Fischer. "This active customer information does not exist." The legislator should therefore define the information obligations much more narrowly.

The many different reusable containers are also problematic. "Many retailers don't work together, but basically work side by side with their own systems," which is not consumer-friendly. We need to get away from this confusion - and move towards a uniform industry solution with a nationwide network of return options, said Fischer.

Improvements to the law necessary

He also considers financial incentives to be important, as in the case of Tübingen. The packaging tax on disposable packaging, crockery and cutlery that applies there was ruled permissible by the Federal Administrative Court in Leipzig in May. A franchisee of the fast food chain McDonald's has lodged a constitutional complaint against this, but a decision is still pending.

Meanwhile, the North Rhine-Westphalia consumer advice center also sees serious flaws in the law - above all the fact that it only focuses on disposable plastic food packaging, although other types of packaging are ecologically just as bad or even worse, according to Philip Heldt, resource protection officer at the NRW consumer advice center. This leads to a switch to cardboard packaging. "So this is a huge loophole that the legislator has given the catering businesses," said Heldt.

The consumer advocates had scrutinized around 400 businesses. Around half of them should have offered reusable takeaway food in terms of size and conditions, but only around half of them had actually done so. "Of course, that's quite blatant. If you think about it, with other laws, 50 percent of those affected would not comply with the law," said Heldt and insisted on improvements to the law.

Provisions unclear

The fact that hardly any checks are carried out is not only due to the fact that the monitoring authorities are understaffed, but also to the complex regulations of the law, which also raises questions. There is a lack of "clear enforcement instructions on how exactly to proceed", which restricts the authorities' ability to act.

The gastronomy association Dehoga also considers the provisions to be unclear. An official guideline was only published in May 2023 - months after the law came into force. "But even this has unfortunately not answered all the questions that arise in practice during implementation, so there is still legal uncertainty," explained Uta Stenzel, consultant for food and consumer protection law at the industry association Dehoga.

In general, the law means considerable effort and costs - "and all this in times of further major challenges that businesses are currently facing". The demand for reusable packaging is still limited in most traditional restaurants and cafés. In order to increase the reusable rate and acceptance, the structures and processes need to be improved - from easy-to-use containers to take-back. A system similar to that for deposit bottles would be desirable. As an example, Stenzel referred to the Reusable To-Go initiative, which is testing the uncomplicated return of reusable food systems in pilot stores in Hesse and Rhineland-Palatinate.