PETpla.net Insider 04 / 2015

imprint EDITORIAL PUBLISHER Alexander Büchler, Managing Director HEAD OFFICE heidelberg business media GmbH Häusserstr. 36 69115 Heidelberg, Germany phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 info@hbmedia.net EDITORIAL Heike Fischer Gabriele Kosmehl Kay Barton Michael Maruschke Ruari McCallion Waldemar Schmitke Wolfgang von Schroeter Anthony Withers MEDIA CONSULTANTS Martina Hirschmann hirschmann@hbmedia.net Johann Lange-Brock lange-brock@hbmedia.net phone: +49 6221-65108-0 fax: +49 6221-65108-28 France, Italy, Spain, UK Elisabeth Maria Köpke phone: +49 6201-878925 fax: +49 6201-878926 koepke@hbmedia.net LAYOUT AND PREPRESS EXPRIM Werbeagentur Matthias Gaumann | www.exprim.de READER SERVICES Till Kretner reader@hbmedia.net PRINT Chroma Druck & Verlag GmbH Werkstr. 25 67354 Römerberg Germany WWW www.hbmedia.net | w ww.petpla.net PETplanet insider ISSN 1438-9459 is published 10 times a year. This publication is sent to qualified subscribers (1-year subscription 149 EUR, 2-year subscription 289 EUR, Young professionals’ sub- scription 99 EUR. Magazines will be dispatched to you by airmail). Not to be reproduced in any form without permission from the publisher. Note: The fact that product names may not be identified as trademarks is not an indication that such names are not registered trademarks. 3 PET planet insider Vol. 16 No. 04/15 www.petpla.net dear readers, The discussion on whether disposable or reusable types of packaging currently represent the best way forward is something of an old chestnut in Germany. Politicians in Germany cut through this Gordian Knot-like conundrum in the Packaging Ordinance introduced more than 20 years ago with the concept of ecologically friendly packaging. Now all forms of packaging that are sensitive from an ecological viewpoint are subject to a deposit. A separate agency was set up to decide what was sensitive and what was not. The decisions on this tended to be based on political rather than ecological considerations. Thus the drinks carton is regarded as ecologically friendly whilst PET disposable packaging is not. With a deposit of 25 eurocents per PET bottle, it doesn’t take long for a tonne of empty PET bottles to amount to 10,000 euros. Coca-Cola was one of the first companies to bring PET on to the market in the form of an ecologically friendly packaging format as defined by the political ruling, i.e. in the form of a reusable bottle. As engineers, we are know about the problems presented by a reusable PET bottle; the increased expenditure on logistics for the return transport, the need to check each bottle for contamination, the washing process laden with chemicals and, finally, the hide- ously scratched bottle on the supermarket shelf. Now Coca-Cola has come forward and announced its intention to take the 0.5 litre and 1.5 litre reusable packs off the market. The intention is that the 1 litre bread-and-butter bottle should initially remain on the market. The abandonment of the six pack rings has led to an outcry from the various consumer associations in Ger- many. An objective discussion on disposable and/or reusable has still not triggered a decision on the part of Coca Cola in Germany. A lost opportunity indeed to re-examine the continued relevance of the Packaging Ordinance two decades ago. Yours Alexander Büchler