Conference notes from the European ReUse … 1 Conference Book 18.09.2012 Conference notes from the...

Conference Book 18.09.2012

Conference notes from the

4th European ReUse Conference

Günther Guder, CEGROBB ........................................................................ 2

Karl Falkenberg, European Commission, Director General Environment .......... 3

Jürgen Resch (for Thomas Fischer), German Environmental Aid (DUH) ........... 5

Mirco Wolf Wiegert, fritz-kola GmbH ......................................................... 6

Roland Demleitner, Association of small and independent breweries in Europe 7

Matthias Groote, MEP, Chair Committee on the Environment, Public Health

and Food Safety ........................................................................................ 8

Jürgen Resch, German Environmental Aid (DUH) ....................................... 10

Víctor Mitjans Sanz, Fundació Catalana per a la Prevenció de Residus i el

Consum Responsable ............................................................................... 11

Georges Lentz, Brasserie Bofferding ........................................................ 12

3rd European Refillable Award .............................................................. 13

Keynote speech .................................................................................... 15

Press Release ....................................................................................... 18


Opening of the conference by the president of CEGROBB,

Günther Guder

Dear Ladies and Gentlemen,

As president of Cegrobb, the association of beer

and beverage wholesalers from nine countries, and

in the name of the Association of small and

independent breweries in Europe as well as the

German Environmental Aid, I would like to

welcome you to our fourth ReUse Conference. We

are happy that we can count participants from

several EU member states amongst our guests.

In this connection, I would also like to say “thank

you” to our sponsors: “Spadel” and “Sinalco”. Their

support contributes to the possibility of showing

the advantages of perfectly working reuse systems

within this event.

Once again, we would like to prove that the reuse system is literally “alive” and

developing continually. This will be illustrated by many examples. Therefore, we are

very happy that, despite this time of changes, you take an active part in the

discussion about reuse systems as an important contribution to an eco-friendlier and

more sustainable economy.

Many interested members of the European Parliament, their assistants and several

departments of the European Commission, who unfortunately cannot be here today,

explicitly asked for a summary of the conference’s most important results. They want

to keep up to date and seek dialogue with us after the conference. We are happy

about their interest – and of course – we will do that.

Today, we will offer you an interesting and diverse program as well as top-class

speakers and I am proud to welcome Mr Karl Falkenberg to this conference. Thank

you for your time Mr Falkenberg! But before giving the floor to you, I would also like

to thank you for your recent release of the “Guidance on the interpretation of key

provisions of Directive 2008/98/EC on waste”. From our point of view, you thereby

provided clarity that reusable packaging is excluded from waste. Instead, it is

assigned to the highest level of the waste hierarchy: waste prevention. Therefore,

reusable packaging is no longer a waste management measure – but it is important

on its own and meets the European primary goal of preventing waste.

Dear Mr Falkenberg, Director General Environment of the European Commission, we

are now looking forward to your elucidations.


Key note speech

Key note speech for opening the conference from Karl Falkenberg, European Commission, Director General

Environment

In his key note speech Mr Falkenberg emphasized the

necessity of more efficient and sustainable ways for

dealing with waste. The best way would be producing no

waste from the outset. Moreover, he pointed out that in

this context reusable systems are one of the most

sensible measures as they meet the primary objective of

the European waste hierarchy: waste prevention.

He brought into consideration that there are huge global

changes not only caused by an increase with regard to

demographic growth but also in line with an increase of

consumption and improving lifestyles. In his opinion,

there is no other possibility to face these challenges but

change. Otherwise the earth will be run over by a

“tsunami of waste” because people risk taking their

planet to its limit. Without any change, a quantity of natural resources equate to the

yield of 2 ½ earths will be needed until 2015. Therefore Mr Falkenberg urged to

“better bring our way of producing in line with the planet” and to move in cycles. He

hereby highlighted exemplary reusable pool bottles used across six countries in the

EU.

He warns that if mankind continues to downgrade resources, the earth may collapse.

This is the reason why every effort must be made to move more efficiently in the

direction of the waste hierarchy. Therefore, the highest form of dealing with waste is

not producing it. He thereby established a direct link between waste prevention and

reusable systems.

Mr Falkenberg predicts that waste will come into the centre of economic systems.

Concerning the waste area, 400,000 new jobs can be implemented if just the waste

regulations that are already adopted will be implemented in all 27 EU Member

States. This is a sector that can create additional growth and finance itself because

the materials needed already exist. Using this chance will support innovation and

new technologies. Moreover, it can help replacing what we do not have – natural

resources. Eco design, which means thinking about resource efficiency from the

outset, can be an additional measure but still these products need to be collected

separately. Not only with regard to an ecologic but also from an economic point of

view, recycling seems to be a sustainable as well as efficient way. This can be seen

in the comparison of the gold yield obtained from mining and the one obtained from

the recycling of electronic devices which is already paying off.


Some EU Member States might forgo growth, innovation and jobs because of

avoiding administrative efforts to implement the EU waste regulations. Still the ways

of waste treatment differ widely within the EU, from 1% landfilling up to 90%. Mr

Falkenberg therefore demands for an equalisation of different ways of waste

disposals. He concluded with his key message that we need to export our waste

models to developing countries by making them known and sharing our experiences.


Sustainability check of beverage packaging

Key facts and figures from the independent PwC-study on different types of beverage packaging, Jürgen Resch,

Executive Manager, German Environmental Aid (DUH)

For the first time, the PwC study on

deposit systems launched by DUH did a

sustainability check on systems for

collection and recycling of beverage

containers.

The PwC study regarded the three

different systems for collection and

recycling: refillable bottles (with

deposit), one-way (single use) beverage

containers with deposit, one-way beverage containers in curbside collection

systems (no deposit); and the different kinds of beverage packaging (glass

bottles (refillable and one-way), PET bottles (refillable and one-way), beverage

cans, beverage cartons.

The main findings of the PwC study were:

Refillable systems are more sustainable than one-way systems

Deposit systems are more sustainable than curbside collection of beverage

containers

Deposit systems for beverage containers enable higher collection rates and

better recycling

Deposit system for one-way beverage containers is not more expensive than

curbside collection

Deposit system for one-way beverage containers is more cost efficient than

curbside collection

Deposit systems and curbside collection can coexist well

Political measures (in addition to deposit on one-way containers) are

necessary to promote refillable systems.

In all three pillars of sustainability refillable bottles beat one-way beverage

packaging systems, e.g. in the categories resources use, global warming,

ecological packaging design, system costs, start-up difficulties, product diversity,

employment, implementation of producer responsibility.

The PwC study concluded that refillable systems need political support.


Deliberate decision for a sustainable company: rely on

refillables from the beginning, Mirco Wolf Wiegert, Executive Manager, fritz-kola GmbH

The soft drink company fritz-kola GmbH

relied on refillables from the beginning

and to do this, they appealed on the

bottling company Friedrich Lütvogt

GmbH & Co.KG.

When developing their premium soft

drink for young urban consumers, they

wanted to use eco-friendly and efficient

bottling. Therefore they compared

refillables versus one-way to base their decision on solid information. As an

example, Mr Wiegert mentioned the comparison of cans and refillable bottles.

They chose glass refillables because of ecological and economical reasons.

Therefore, they were happy when their bottling partner decided to invest into a

new bottling plant for refillable glass-bottles. Lütvogt’s new eco-fill bottling line

uses 75% less water than the old bottling line and it needs 43% less electric

energy.

And like Dirk Lütvogt, CEO of Friedrich Lütvogt GmbH & Co.KG, says: “qualitative

development of the company rather than quantitative growth at any cost.”


One bottle – unlimited users: Introduction to the

exhibition of refillable bottles, Roland Demleitner,

Executive Manager, Association of small and

independent breweries in Europe (S.I.B.)

Especially in central Europe small and independent

breweries traditionally hang on to the returnable bottle-

system because of its economic and environmental

advantages.

Usually, returnable bottle systems are open pools which

allow using the same bottle cross-borders. Most of the

breweries use standardized bottles which circulate within

these open pool systems. Roland Demleitner presented a

selection of examples for those returnable bottles which

are used by breweries all over Europe. One of the most

popular bottles is the so-called NRW-bottle (Nordrhein-

Westfalen) from Germany which is used by breweries

outside Germany as well.

In 2010 the Private Brauereien Deutschland e.V. made a survey covering 147

breweries to get an overview on the average circulation ratios of standardized

returnable bottles.

The average circulation ratio – dependent on the type of the bottle – is between

33 and 63 times.

The average circulation ratio of the 147 breweries taking part in the survey over

all types of bottles is 50.

These average circulation ratios are similar to those for standardized returnable

bottles being used in other member states.

Small and medium sized breweries made huge investments in the existing returnable

bottle-systems and are therefore existentially dependent on these systems. The most

important message is that returnable bottles in the brewing industry are bringing

greater economic, ecological and socio-economic benefits compared to one way

packaging.


Sustainable packaging: A challenge for the future

Reusable packaging in the European perspective: a smart and sustainable way into the future, Matthias Groote, MEP,

Chair Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Matthias Groote pointed out that resource efficiency

and sustainable growth should be key political

priorities for the EU. The European Parliament

believes that the transformation to a sustainable

economy will result in increased competitiveness and

new sources of growth and jobs, through cost

savings from improved efficiency and better

management of resources over their whole life cycle.

It is not only a question of competitiveness and

growth; progress on waste prevention as well as

sustainable consumption and production are issues of

great importance to all EU citizens. Therefore, our

challenge is to ensure that the EU´s waste legislation

and policies play their part in delivering important

and high level political ambitions. He thereby

emphasized the importance of swift and determined action.

He is confident of this Conference examining the practice and development of

refillable packaging systems across various Member States. Within the current

framework, exchange of practice and experience among Member States is crucial

in ensuring the creation and development of effective reuse packaging systems.

Nevertheless, he brings into consideration that the current legislation does not go

far enough. The European Parliament is calling on the Commission to streamline

the waste acquis. The aim is bringing residual waste close to zero. He also

believes that more sustainable waste management practice would act as an

incentive for the industry to develop more efficient waste processes and reduce

inconsistencies in national approaches.

He concluded that the EU urgently needs to re-think its patterns of resource use

over the next decades in order to ensure more sustainable growth and

management of its resources in ways which stimulate new employment

opportunities in innovative sectors. For this reason, he endorses the EU's

resource efficiency agenda and believes that EU waste management and policy

must play their part in delivering these ambitious aims.


Mr Groote assured the participants of this conference of his political support for

initiatives and measures in the beverage packaging sector which are contributing

to these goals. He commended the work that has been done so far, and continues

to be undertaken by the organisations present in the prevention of waste and

development of re-use packaging systems in this sector.


All that glitters is not green: Bioplastics as the new green

washing scam, Jürgen Resch, Executive Manager, German Environmental Aid (DUH)

There is a new trend: Bioplastics are used to give

one-way products an eco-friendly appearance in the

style of reusable products.

One-way plastic bags

One-way drinking cups

One-way yoghurt pots

One-way beverage bottles

One-way ...

The question we have to ask ourselves is: do

bioplastics really have an added value?

When we look at the evaluation of biodegradable

plastics made of renewable resources published by the German Federal

Environment Agency, it is stated that “until now, there are no meaningful

environmental considerations and therefore no statements available concerning

the sustainability of the majority of products made of bio based biodegradable

plastics. In those cases, where consolidated findings are available, they rather

speak against biodegradable plastics made of renewable resources. Solely the

characteristics ‘use of renewable resources’ or ‘being biodegradable’ are not

sufficient to justify an environmental superiority of these materials from the

outset.”

Certain claims of producers and users of bioplastics are untrue or half true:

bioplastics are “CO2-neutral” or “mostly CO2-neutral”

bioplastics products are 100% biodegradable

bioplastics products are “green” and “good for the environment”

bioplastics are made of renewable resources.

We have to minimize the environmental impacts caused by packaging. Packaging

waste needs to be prevented (implementing the highest level of the five-step

waste hierarchy) through the use of reusable packaging and the waiver and

reduction of packaging material. We have to use packaging material with

environmental impacts as low as possible so that we don’t focus on single

environmental issues but on the overall environmental impacts. We have to

secure a high quality recycling of used packaging materials, according to product

responsibility and protecting the environment.


Refillable bottles contributing to European targets for

resource efficiency and waste prevention

Refillable bottles for waste prevention: Initiative to introduce refillable systems in Spain, Víctor Mitjans Sanz,

Fundació Catalana per a la Prevenció de Residus i el Consum Responsable

Víctor Mitjans Sanz explained that the

situation for refillables in Spain is very

bad. They have been in decline in the

90s and remained stable afterwards, but

at a very low level.

His organisation wants to create a

strategy to reintroduce refillables in

Spain. Therefore, on the one hand, they

are creating a level playground by

enhancing producer responsibility and by guaranteeing the right to choose for

consumers and, on the other hand, they want to raise awareness among fillers.

At this moment the producer responsibility is very weak. For glass there is a 47%

separate collection and for plastics and metal it is only 21%. The rest goes to

littering and mixed waste, which represent costs beared by the municipalities.

To lessen the municipal waste, they are trying to install a deposit on the main

beverages (water, soft drinks, beer and juices) and the main packaging materials

(glass, plastic, cans and cartons). In doing so, they hope to lower the municipal

waste by 4.5%.

But to succeed in their intention they need a legal framework and they need to

raise awareness among the fillers.


Refillable bottles for sustainable companies: An example

from Luxemburg, Georges Lentz, Executive Manager, Brasserie Bofferding

Georges Lentz gave a short history of

his family business.

A time ago they were very local oriented

and only local products were sold in

Luxemburg. But then more and more

products were imported, which also

gave Bofferding the opportunity to

widen their range. Nowadays they also

sell their products in the south of

Belgium and the north-east of France. Their sales in the new regions doubled

within 5 years.

Compared to the big players on the market, Bofferding is still very small. Almost

80% of their production is in refillable packaging (kegs and returnable bottles). In

the off trade sector, only about 40% are refillables, but in the on trade one and

with distributors, this rate is about 90%.

Bofferding listens to its clients, and looks at what their needs are. That’s why

they came up with a new crate: 10 x 33 cl. This crate is smaller and lighter.

Therefore it is economical and easier to carry.

Mr Lentz provided a vivid example for the advantages of reusable bottles.

They compared the costs between a returnable crate 24 x 33 cl and a non-

returnable box 24 x 33 cl. The costs for non-returnable ones were about 40 € per

hl higher than for a returnable packaging.

Looking at the volume of waste accruing from a 24x33 cl crate with non-

returnable glass, the weight of waste is almost 5 kg. In contrast, with returnable

glass, this is only 70 grams. Therefore Mr Lentz clearly stated that it is definitely

worth to have returnable bottles.


3rd European Refillable Award

At the ReUse Conference the 3rd European Refillable Award for innovative and pre-

eminent performance promoting or further improving eco-friendly reusable systems

has been awarded. This year’s winner is Friedrich Lütvogt GmbH & Co. KG

Mineralbrunnenbetrieb Auburg-Quelle.

The Friedrich Lütvogt GmbH & Co. KG Mineralbrunnenbetrieb Auburg-Quelle was

established in 1896 as a family company in Wagenfeld (Lower Saxony, Germany).

The beverage producer is already being run by the fourth generation, namely by the

great grandson of the company founder. The main business segments are the

company’s own mineral spring Auburg-Quelle, as well as filling and logistic services

for third parties.

Dirk Lütvogt and his team developed and installed an exceptionally efficient and

therefore sustainable bottling line for refillable bottles. This filling plant represents a

forward-looking technology that is unique in Germany and Europe. Compared to old

plants, this one saves more than 43% of energy and 60% fresh water.

The most important component of this eco-friendly plant is the redesigned bottle

washing machine. Instead of 600 ml per bottle, it only needs 150 ml – less than one

third of the former water consumption. The bottle cleaning machine is solely

provided with regeneratively generated heating from the company’s own combined

heating and power station.


Due to innovative drives of the bottle and crate conveyor belts the energy

consumption decreased by 20%. The majority of the energy needed for the

production is generated by their own solar system.

The company’s product portfolio is also laid out for filling foreign bottles. For bottling

their own water, Auburg-Quelle, they mainly use traditional pool bottles from the

Association of German Wells (Genossenschaft Deutscher Brunnen e.G., GDB). The

savings of energy, heating, fresh and waste water protect the environmental and

keep high-class reuse systems competitive.

Congratulations to the winner!

Website: www.auburg.de

http://www.auburg.de/


Keynote speech delivered at the conference Reusable Beverage

packaging in Europe: a profitable and sustainable choice, in Brussels, Radisson SAS EU Hotel, on 18 September 2012.

Reusable packaging in the European perspective: a smart and sustainable

way into the future, Matthias Groote, MEP, Chairman - Environment Public

Health and Food Safety Committee, European Parliament

It is a great pleasure to address this 4th

European ReUse Conference on Reuseable

Beverage Packaging in Europe. As

Chairman of the European Parliament's

Environment Committee, I value the efforts

of NGOs and industry in working together

to promote more sustainable packaging

waste systems. I recognise in particular the

continuing constructive collaboration among

Deutsche Umwelthilfe, CEGROBB and S.I.B.

in the area of beverage packaging and notably with the organisation of this 4th

ReUse Conference.

Resource Efficiency and Waste Prevention in the EU

Resource efficiency and sustainable growth should be key political priorities for the

EU. The EU's Flagship Initiative on a "Resource Efficient Europe" is a vital component

of the EU 2020 Strategy and aims at the decoupling of the EU´s economic growth

from resource and energy use and the move towards a resource efficient and low

carbon economy. The European Parliament believes that the transformation to a

sustainable economy will result in increased competitiveness and new sources of

growth and jobs, through cost savings from improved efficiency and better

management of resources over their whole life cycle.

It is not only a question of competitiveness and growth; progress on waste

prevention and sustainable consumption and production is an issue of great

importance to EU citizens ; their involvement will be vital in any move towards a

sustainable economy, particularly in changing attitudes and behaviour in society as

far as resource use is concerned.

Our challenge therefore is to ensure that the EU´s waste legislation and policies play

their part in delivering on these important and high level political ambitions.

Classification of reusable packaging under the Directive

The European Parliament´s Environment Committee has always strongly supported

the EU´s waste hierarchy as now set out in the Waste Framework Directive. This

requires the prioritisation of waste prevention in national waste management

legislation.


Where prevention is not possible in relation to specific waste streams, re-use is

established as the logical next step in securing the best overall environmental

outcome.

This approach is reflected in the objectives of the specific legislation most relevant to

the beverage packaging sector. The Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive places

the prevention of the production of packaging waste at the summit of its hierarchy,

followed by re-use of packaging, recycling and other forms of recovery, so as to

reduce the final disposal of such waste.

I would support the fundamental principle of the Directive, that reuse is considered

preferable in terms of environmental impact and that Member States are encouraged

to develop reuse packaging systems in order to take advantage of the contribution of

such systems to environmental protection. And indeed, the Parliament has recently,

(in its report on the Commission's Resource Efficiency Roadmap) called on the EU to

give priority to activities higher up the waste hierarchy.

Outlook and future developments

This of course leads to the question of what further measures should be taken at EU

level to strengthen the waste hierarchy in the beverage packaging sector. One

proposal is the introduction in the Packaging and Packaging Waste Directive, of

targets for prevention and reuse as an extension of the existing recycling and

recovery targets.

In the beverage packaging sector in particular, it is clear that schemes involving

reuse of refillable bottles have a critical role to play. This is particularly the case if we

consider that consumer beverage packaging accounts for at least 20% of total

packaging by weight in the EU.

In that context, it is interesting to reflect so far on the implementation of reuse

systems in Member States. This audience will be well aware for example, that some

Member States have introduced voluntary and others mandatory deposit refund

schemes. Recent research demonstrates that those countries with mandatory deposit

schemes (incl. Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark), have achieved significantly

higher reuse rates than those without.

Lack of overall mandatory EU targets can however lead to a fragmented approach in

transboundary situations and means that such schemes do not reach their full

potential.

I therefore welcome that this Conference is today examining the practice and

development of refillable packaging systems across various Member States. Within

the current framework, exchange of practice and experience among Member States

is crucial in ensuring the creation and development of effective reuse packaging

systems.


But the current legislation does not go far enough. The European Parliament is

calling on the Commission to streamline the waste acquit, with a view to bringing

residual waste close to zero. I also believe that more sustainable waste management

practice would act as an incentive to industry to develop more efficient waste

processes and reduce inconsistencies in national approaches.

It is important in addition, not to forget other tools which must be exploited in order

to achieve more sustainable waste management. For example the Parliament is

calling for stronger requirements on Green Public Procurement for products which

have significant environmental impacts and contribute most to the consumption of

key global resources (including land and materials).

In addition, the Parliament is urging the Commission to extend the scope of the

Ecodesign Directive to non-energy related products, in order to optimise the

efficiency of products at source.

It seems that the absence of specific re-use targets in the Packaging and Packaging

Waste Directive has not hindered some innovative approaches in the beverage

packaging sector. It is therefore encouraging to see that this Conference is

dedicating time to some best practice examples from the industry and of course to

the presentation of the 3rd European Refillable Award. This can only lead to greater

understanding of what makes a beverage packaging re-use system - and in

particular deposit refund systems - a success.

Summary

I would like to finish by emphasising that the EU needs urgently to re-think its

patterns of resource use over the next decades in order to ensure more sustainable

growth and management of its resources in ways which stimulate new employment

opportunities in innovative sectors. For this reason, I endorse the EU's resource

efficiency agenda and I believe that EU waste management and policy must play its

part in delivering these ambitious aims.

You can be sure of my political support for initiatives and measures in the beverage

packaging sector which aim to contribute to these goals. I would take this

opportunity to commend the work that has been done so far, and continues to be

undertaken by the organisations present here in the prevention of waste and

development of re-use packaging systems in this sector.

Thank you for the opportunity to address you this afternoon and I wish you success

with the rest of the Conference.


PRESS RELEASE

Re-use of beverage Packaging in Europe:

A profitable and sustainable choice

Reusable packaging offers chances for increased resource

efficiency and waste prevention in the EU: Participants of the

4th ReUse Conference in Brussels demand a higher level of

commitment for reusable packaging systems – Karl

Falkenberg and Matthias Groote, representatives of EU

institutions, open discussion on trends and contribution of EU-

regulations – 3rd European Refillable Award goes to Friedrich

Lütvogt GmbH & Co.KG Mineralbrunnenbetrieb Auburg-Quelle

Brussels, 18 September 2012: The participants of the 4th European ReUse

Conference in Brussels ask for stronger commitment for refillable beverage

packaging from EU Member States. The ambitious implementation of the five step

waste hierarchy and the promotion of reusable systems are important for the

aspired transition into a resource efficient recycling society. The European

Federation of Associations of Beer and Beverages Wholesalers (CEGROBB), the

Association of Small and Independent Breweries in Europe (S.I.B.) and the

German Environmental Aid (DUH) organized the European ReUse Conference on

Tuesday for the fourth time.

“Refillable beverage packaging illustrates how ecological, economical and social

aspects interact. Together they form a sustainable approach for production and

consumption. They prevent packaging waste as well as costs for producers.

Compared to one-way packaging, valuable raw materials and energy can be

saved”, said Günther Guder, President of CEGROBB. He pointed out that several

new initiatives improving refillable systems have been implemented by individual

reuse-oriented beverage producers since the first ReUse Conference in 2007.

Additionally he called for political and legislative support in order to promote

refillable bottles at a European level.

Karl Falkenberg, Director-General Environment of the European Commission,

confirmed that the European Waste Framework Directive gives clear priority for

waste prevention as the first step of the waste hierarchy, before recycling or

other types of waste recovery. In his keynote speech at the ReUse Conference he

said “Prevention is the High form of waste management. In a resource-scarce

environment, dematerialising products and packages makes a lot of sense.


Second best option is re-use and this is particularly valuable in the packaging

sector. The idea of reusing packaging therefore meets the objective of the

European Waste Framework Directive. This is a simple but obvious example how

waste can be prevented. Reusable packaging directly contributes to our

environmental protection objectives and saves valuable resources.” Thereby, he

explicitly highlighted the role of reusable packaging in doing business in

accordance with nature.

Matthias Groote, MEP, Chair Committee on the Environment, Public Health and

Food Safety, opened the discussion on the contributions from the EU Parliament

supporting reusable systems. “With regard to increasingly scarce resources and

the necessity to save energy we need to act with a sense of a vision. To achieve

the objective of a sustainable society we need a behavior modification from one

way to reuse products. Concerning this matter there are clear advantages of

refillables for the environment, in terms of waste prevention, sustainable use of

resources, prevention of littering, and climate protection. Therefore more

European countries should follow these good examples. We feel up to support

reusable packaging.”

In contrast to products in disposable packaging, those filled in reusable bottles

are mostly sold close to where they were produced. As the bottles only need to

be transported over short distances, energy can be saved. Thereby, functional

reuse systems are keeping many regional jobs in the beverage sector. “Reusable

packaging is a sensible way to save resources and support local products as well

as economic structures. Acknowledging this would also honor the contribution to

waste prevention of small and medium-sized reuse-oriented businesses in the

beverage sector. In Germany the reuse quota for beer remained stable at more

than 80% for years – a success that should motivate other EU countries to

strengthen or introduce reuse systems”, said Roland Demleitner, Managing

Director of S.I.B.

Time and again beverage producers use different methods to lead consumers and

politicians to believe in their packaging as eco-friendly alternatives. The one-way

industry is searching eagerly for ways to make single-use packaging socially

accepted. Beverage producers just came up with new Bio-Plastic-Bottles. “In

recent times we revealed several bold attempts of companies that tried to

deceive their own consumers by advertising yoghurt pots or plastic bags made of

bio plastics as non-polluting. But life cycle assessments from bio plastic

packaging do not show any advantage for these packaging-novelties. Much more

they disclose negative tendencies. Significantly, we did not receive detailed

information about life cycle assessments of Bio-Plastic-Bottles until now”,

explained Jürgen Resch, Executive Manager of German Environmental Aid (DUH).


Even if non-refillable bottles are optimized, this will not lead to less waste but

legitimize a throwaway culture the waste hierarchy tries to prevent.

At the ReUse Conference the European Refillable Award for innovative and

eminent performance promoting or further improving eco-friendly reusable

systems was awarded for the third time. This year’s winner was Friedrich Lütvogt

GmbH & Co. KG Mineralbrunnenbetrieb Auburg-Quelle, a German beverage

producer. The company was awarded for its innovative bottling line. Dirk Lütvogt

and his team developed and installed an exceptionally efficient and therefore

sustainable bottling line for refillable bottles. Compared to old filling plants this

one saves more than 43% of energy and 60% of fresh water which helps to keep

reuse systems competitive.

Contact:

Günther Guder

President, CEGROBB, European Federation of Associations of

Beer and Beverages Wholesalers

[email protected]

Tel +49 1722424950

Jürgen Resch

Executive Director, German Environmental Aid (DUH) and the

ReUse and Recycling Institute

[email protected]

Tel. +49 171 364 9170

Roland Demleitner

Managing Director, Association of Small and Independent

Breweries in Europe (S.I.B.)

[email protected]

Tel. +49 6431 52048

mailto:[email protected]



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