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IN FOCUS SUSTAINABILITY
people. It determines what happens to products if they are considered waste or recyclable after use.
be vacuumed up by road sweepers and does no more damage. As part of marine littering, plastic bottles have a different calibre, also because of their longevity. It is simply the sheer volume that becomes a problem at some point. It is similar to many things: traffic, air pollution etc. CH: The problems with plastics at the end of the product life cycle have existed for a long time. Of course, it’s a complicated subject. But we can’t just let difficult issues go. Today we have littered beaches. In my opinion, these images have intensified public discussion over the past three to five years.
measures. NGOs and society take up the waste issue - not always fact-based. Emotions are involved, myths arise. The brands, our major customers, reacted before the governments took action. Corresponding laws are being passed in Europe. A plastic tax has been introduced in the EU and is implemented differently in the European Union countries. We advocate a fairer and general tax for all packaging types depending on the environmental impact, i.e. an eco- modulation or a CO 2 tax.
I once asked someone why he just throws away his PET bottle. The young man looked at me puzzled and said: Well because it is empty.
CH: Unfortunately, it is the case that waste is not dealt with as it should be - and in some cases, even in Europe. The following example leads us away from plastics and packaging, but it clarifies how deep that is from my point of view. We find cigarette butts everywhere: on streets, sidewalks and squares. What makes people drop them quickly and easily? It is the low value, the supposed insignificance of the little stub, inattention. The cigarette becomes the butt, and it is no longer worth anything; the smoker simply gets rid of it. Garbage gets attention when we recognize it as unpleasant. It goes through all areas: individuals, society, companies, countries and regions. In the best-case scenario, the cigarette butt can
What myths do you mean?
CH: We have identified the following myths, among others: “Packaging is superfluous”, “Packaging wastes resources”, “Packaging made of glass or metal is ecologically better”, “Plastic packaging prevents us from achieving CO 2 targets”. We dealt intensively with these myths some time ago, including how to invalidate them and have collected many facts in our brochure “The Fairy Tale of the Evil PET Bottle”.
Has the packaging industry reacted too late to the emerging discussions?
CH: Yes, that’s how I see it. Unfortunately, we did not react early or extensively enough. I think it is imperative to get involved in the discussions and respond to them with the right arguments and
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