China Solid Waste Ban: Germany deals with challenges to recycle garbage on its own

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Europe

As the EU outlines plans to tackle plastic waste under the influence of China's ban on garbage imports. Germany says "it's a good start but there's much work to be done". CGTN's Guy Henderson reports from Berlin.

German consumers are an eco-friendly bunch. So by the time, their household waste reaches this Berlin plastic recycling plant --most of the sorting's already been done.

Almost everything that's dropped off is re-usable. But still far too much is thrown away before it even arrives, say bosses here.

DANIEL PANDZIK BARTSCHERER RE-CYCLING "There are different types of plastics — recycling mono-plastics is no problem. The big problem is that industry is producing more and more compound plastics. It's very difficult to recycle these kinds of materials."

Dyed or poor quality plastic can also cause problems. These colored containers are still salvageable with a little extra work — but at some point, re-production becomes impractical if not impossible.

GUY HENDERSON BERLIN "Us Europeans use about 25mln tonnes of plastic every year — less than 30% of it is re-cycled. It's so-called 'single-use' products — plastic bottles, coffee lids — that irk policymakers most: they might be useful for just a few minutes before they're thrown out — they can take centuries to break down."

At landfill sites or in the oceans. An environmental issue on a scale second only to climate change. Now the European Commission has outlined a strategy to tackle it — first by demanding that by 2030, all plastic packaging should be viably recyclable. Taxes and levies to encourage cleaner products are also in the pipeline. The German Environment Agency says that won't be enough on its own.

FRANZISKA KRUGER GERMAN ENVIRONMENT AGENCY "The EU strategy gives a collection of guidelines — a vision for the future. It has a broad variety of goals it's looking for. And therefore it's addressing the member states and also consumers — now it's very important that we fulfil these ideas with reality."

Europe is scrambling to stop the plastic piling up. Its ambitious targets won't be a quick fix. GH, CGTN, BERLIN.