Germany

Policy framework

Legal framework

– Name: e.g.: Ordinance on the Ban of Single Use Plastic products, Ordinance on the Marking of Single Use Plastic products, Packaging Act, Circular Economy Act

– Brief description: National implementation of the EU Single-Use Plastics Directive through different national regulations – e.g. consumption reduction measures, ban on certain plastic products (straws etc.); marking and product and requirements.

Indicators

As an EU-Member state GER is obliged to implement the EU-wide agreed threshold value for beach litter;

Measures

Measures	Achievements
Prevention and reduction of plastic waste generation
Charge for single-use plastic products (e.g. shopping bags, straws)
Names of actions: Amendment of the Packaging Act Targeted products: plastic bags with a thickness between 15- 50 micrometers Brief description: From 1.1.2022 the use of plastic bags with a thickness between 15- 50 micrometers is forbidden by law.	We see a positive improvement from last two years
Regulation on microplastics
Names of actions: As an EU-Member state GER is pro-actively involved in developing related policy and regulatory measures on EU-level

Measures	Achievements
Check the following actions in your country.	Choose the most appropriate options to describe the achievements attained through the measures selected, using quantitative information if any.
Environmentally sound waste management
Enforcement of proper waste management system
Names of actions: A proper waste management system is in place for decades; Brief description:
Prevention of littering, illegal dumping and unintentional leakage of waste into the ocean
Names of actions: Circular Economy Act Brief description: measures for consumer awareness raising (transposition of EU Single-Use Plastic Directive)	Comments: newly implemented measure; no improvements can be reported so far.

Measures	Achievements
Check the following actions in your country.	Choose the most appropriate options to describe the achievements attained through the measures selected, using quantitative information if any.

Measures	Achievements
Check the following actions in your country.	Choose the most appropriate options to describe the achievements attained through the measures selected, using quantitative information if any.
Promotion of innovative solutions
Public-private partnerships for creating and implementing innovative solution
Names of actions: PREVENT Waste Alliance Brief description: Multi-Stakeholder Partnership (see section 5 for more details)	We see a positive improvement from last two years Numerical data if any: More than 200 member organisations within 2 years; Piloting of 8 innovative solutions since early 2021

Measures	Achievements
Check the following actions in your country.	Choose the most appropriate options to describe the achievements attained through the measures selected, using quantitative information if any.
Education and awareness raising
Awareness raising campaigns related to MPL
National level: Names of actions: Inter alia: 1. [Beach] litter collecting actions 2. Broad membership of a Round Table on Marine Litter (RT ML) Brief description: 1. (mostly NGO- or privately driven) voluntary initiatives to collect litter (from the environment(rivers/beaches) 2. RT ML–jointly initiated by Federal and Federal Laender-Governments; bringing together all government levels (3 levels in GER), NGOs, Industry, Associations etc. – aiming at finding solutions to stop the entry of plastic litter into the environment,, ideally at the source, but also addressing niche topics such as ‘how to recycle ALDFG’ efficiently; International / Regional level: Names of actions: Various awareness raising campaigns in East and Southeast Asia Brief description: As part of the project “Rethinking Plastics” (see section 5 for more details) International / Regional level: We see a positive improvement from last two years	We see a positive improvement from last two years

Measures	Achievements
Check the following actions in your country.	Choose the most appropriate options to describe the achievements attained through the measures selected, using quantitative information if any.
Monitoring & Scientific research on marine plastic litter
Actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics
Names of actions: Financing of the PlasM-Project (“Microplastics in Fish”) lead by the Thünen Institute since 2017 Brief description: This research project aims to measure how much microplastic can be found in different species in various areas and how it affects their health. It also looks at methods for detection of microplastic particles and their extraction.	1) Actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics We see a positive improvement from last two years Comments: Publications and further research on the risks for fish and the impact on the ecosystem by microplastic particles and fibres ( https://literatur.thuenen.de/digbib_extern/dn063193.pdf ) (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2021.146045)
Engagement in international/regional level actions for encouraging monitoring / scientific research on plastic flows and ocean surface microplastics
Names of actions: Waste Flow Diagram Brief description: Rapid assessment tool for quantifying plastic leakage in cities (see section 5 for more details)	We see a positive improvement from last two years Numerical data if any: Application in 50 cities planned

Challenges

Data collection related to marine plastic litter

Project delays due to COVID-19

Others
Cf. Data collection: Comparable, i.e. coordinated cross border and/or international monitoring is missing;
Cf.: project delays: ML-projects, funded by the Federal Government at international level have been delayed;

Best practices

International cooperation

PREVENT Waste Alliance : Initiated under the patronage of the German Development Minister Gerd Müller, the PREVENT Waste Alliance was launched in May 2019. The PREVENT serves as a multi-stakeholder platform for exchange and international cooperation. After two years more than 200 organisations from the private sector, academia, civil society and public institutions work together on waste prevention, collection, and recycling as well as the increased uptake of secondary resources in low- and middle-income countries. During a call for solutions in 2020, member organisations jointly developed project ideas of which 8 are being piloted since the beginning of 2021. More information of the PREVENT and the pilots is available here: https://prevent-waste.net/en/ & https://prevent-waste.net/en/pilotprojects/.

EPR Toolbox: Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is a key concept for ‘closing the loop’ in the packaging value chain. The EPR Toolbox developed by the PREVENT Waste Alliance is a collection of internationally relevant knowledge on the topic of EPR for packaging. Its aim is to promote knowledge exchange and enhance development of EPR systems worldwide. The EPR Toolbox contains detailed training materials on EPR, practical country examples and a set of FAQs. It has been translated into Chinese and Vietnamese and translations for Indonesia and Thailand will follow. It has been used for workshops and trainings in different countries, for instance in South-East Asia.

is publicly available on the PREVENT website: https://prevent-waste.net/en/epr-toolbox/

Waste Flow Diagram (WFD) : The WFD is a rapid assessment tool that maps municipal solid waste flows and estimates plastic waste leakage into the terrestrial and aquatic environment. It is developed for cities in low- and middle-income countries. It can be used both as baseline assessment and for scenario forecasting to plan and monitor local marine litter interventions. It is an excel-based tool combining primary and secondary data inputs with systematic observations.. The WFD was applied among others Mombasa in Kenya, Manila in the Philippines and Tulum in Mexico. Another 50 applications in among others Ethiopia, India or the Caribbean by actors such as WWF and the World Bank are planned. The tool and more information is available here: https://www.giz.de/expertise/html/62153.html ; https://plasticpollution.leeds.ac.uk/toolkits/wfd/.

Rethinking Plastics : The ‘Rethinking Plastics – Circular Economy Solutions to Marine Litter’ project supports a transition towards a circular economy for plastics in East and South East Asia with the objective to reduce plastic waste leakage into the sea. The project is co-funded by the German Government and the European Union since April 2019 and is implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH and Expertise France. The project provides advice, fosters exchange and experiences sharing, develops knowledge materials and supports 24 pilot projects in China, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam. These pilots were kicked off in the last 12 months and serve to establish and disseminate new approaches or up scaled good practices. Knowledge exchange is fostered, for instance, through workshops and conferences while awareness raising campaigns are also being implemented. One example is a Marine Litter Knowledge Quiz Campaign in late 2020 with more than 25,000 Chinese students aged 6-15 and teachers taking part. More information is available here: https://beatplasticpollution.eu/rethinking-plastics/

Clean Oceans Initiative (COI): Launched by the German development bank KfW, the European Development Bank (EIB), and Agence Francaise de Développement (AFD) in 2018 and reinforced by two other European development banks (CDP and ICO) in 2020, COI intends to support projects that reduce pollution in the oceans, with a particular focus on plastics. Together, the banks provide up to EUR 2 billion in lending between 2018 and 2023, focusing on waste management, wastewater and stormwater in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. As of today, about two-thirds of this goal have already been achieved.

Grant Programme against Marine Litter ‘Marine Debris Framework – Regional hubs around the globe’ (Marine: DeFRAG). The primary goal here is to cut waste by avoiding it at the source, so plastic waste never ends up in the oceans in the first place. This includes both medium-term measures that work to reduce the volumes of plastic waste as well as short-term measures that establish and develop functional waste and closed-loop management systems. As well as coastal regions and island nations, there is also a focus on countries and regions where plastic waste is transported by river from the interior to the oceans.