Business representatives reject that advance Friedrichshain-Kreuzberg’s district mayor, Clara Herrmann (Green Party), to ban plastic and disposable packaging in order to get the garbage problem in Berlin’s parks under control. “We won’t get any further with general bans,” he said Nils Busch-Petersenthe general manager of the trade association Berlin-Brandenburg, the daily mirror.
In addition, the industry is already assuming its responsibility – through the plastic bag ban that has been in effect since January 2022 and through the use of deposit systems such as Recup mugs and Rebowl bowls. Stricter regulations only increased prices for consumers.
It comes one rule after the other.
Thomas LengfelderGerman Hotel and Restaurant Association
“Instead, Ms. Herrmann should think about how often the parks are cleaned.” In addition, the responsibility for garbage in the city lies not only with the economy, but also with consumers.
170,000 coffee cups bought them every day in Berlin, says Thomas LengfelderChief Executive of German Hotel and Restaurant Association Berlin. But he doesn’t see any responsibility for the restaurateurs who make money from coffee. “It comes one rule after another. We have to take consumers much more seriously.”
Reusable “Recup” cups, for example, are not practical for small kiosks. “You can stack badly. And washing them en masse is also not possible there.” Smaller shops with a shop area of less than 80 square meters or fewer than five employees, such as late night shops or kiosks, are exempt from the nationwide returnables obligation that has been in force since the beginning of the year.
