Closing material loops vital as German aluminium packaging recycling soars - GDA

The Mainz-based research body, which measures the amount of packaging waste produced and recycled in Germany, said the overall recycling rate for aluminium in the country reached a record 82 per cent. Of the 91,000 tonnes of aluminium used in packaging last year, 74,900 tonnes were recycled, it added.

“The continually increasing recycling rates for aluminium packaging in Germany show that the aluminium industry is working very successfully to close ever more gaps in the material loops,”​ said Hans-Jürgen Schmidt, managing director of DAVR Deutsche Aluminium Verpackung Recycling GmbH.

Closing material loops​

Stefan Glimm, executive director of the German aluminium industry body, GDA, said the GVM figures showed the right approach is to concentrate on closing material loops – the so called cradle to cradle approach - and not on increasing the amount of recycled material in aluminium products.

“The latter does not make any contribution to enhancing sustainability or improving the environment because having a greater amount of recycled material in selected products does not affect the total amount of recycled material that is available,”​ he added. “But that is precisely what it is all about: increasing the total amount of recyclable material that is returned to the loop in order to conserve resources and save energy.”​

The GDA said aluminium recycling meant that up to 95 per cent of the energy needed to produce the primary material was saved.

The DAVR estimates that based on current aluminium recycling rates saves 370,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents annually. This figure takes into account the effort involved in collecting, processing and recycling the scrap as well as any material losses that occur, said the organisation.