The Greens are calling for a more consistent implementation of the multi-way offer obligation in gastronomy and retail. “The trade got the chance to get the garbage problem under control. Now he has to deliver,” said the environmental policy spokesman for the Greens parliamentary group in the Bundestag, Jan-Niclas Gesenhues, the editorial network Germany (RND). His group has already urged the authorities to be more stringent.
The multiple-way offer obligation has been in effect since January 1st. Restaurants, bistros and cafés that sell takeaway food and drinks must therefore also offer their products in reusable packaging. This is intended to replace single-use plastic packaging. However, the same product in reusable packaging must not be more expensive than in disposable packaging. Excluded are smaller shops such as snack bars and kiosks, in which a maximum of five employees work and which have a retail area of no more than 80 square meters.
Implementation is still in the early stages, and retailers and consumers still have to get used to the new guidelines, explained Gesenhues. However, he warned: “If that doesn’t work, we as legislators reserve the right to take further regulatory measures.” The trade must look for solutions to its waste problem and not for ways to circumvent the new regulations.
