The Federal Association of German Waste Disposal Industry said on the 14th that the amount of glass and plastic waste in Germany has increased by 6% this year due to the impact of the coronavirus epidemic.
This is the conclusion of the association after investigating member organizations. On the 14th, the German News Agency quoted the survey results and reported that the amount of abandoned paper in Germany increased by 2% during the same period.
One of the reasons for the increase in waste is people putting discarded masks and rubber gloves into recyclable bins, and that “their ingredients are not suitable for the recycling process,” said Peter Coulter, president of the association. If such waste is thrown into the wrong trash can, the worst scenario is that they are burned.
The Federal Association of the German Waste Disposal Industry currently has about 750 members, covering all fields of the waste treatment industry, including waste collection, sorting, recycling and incineration.
Kurt believes that from the results of the investigation, it is very difficult to avoid waste under the spread of the epidemic. “If you want to really reduce waste, consumers can only seriously consider what they can save when buying Christmas items at present,” he said.
