(best examples and good practices) on household organic waste ...

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already recycled a relatively large proportion of municipal waste <strong>and</strong> l<strong>and</strong>filled
approximately 40 %.(EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
German waste policy follows the EU’s waste hierarchy, with prevention as the
first priority, followed by material recovery <strong>and</strong> energy recovery, depending on
which is better for the environment. Objectives for managing municipal waste
also focus on avoiding contamination of waste <strong>and</strong> ensuring treatment <strong>and</strong>
l<strong>and</strong>filling of waste that is not recovered. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
The two most important fractions of waste are (paper <strong>and</strong> biowaste). Among
the most efficient actions for the treatment of these types of waste, are:
composting or anaerobic biological treatment; <strong>and</strong> limiting the organic content
of l<strong>and</strong>filled waste. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
Germany set a target in 1999 for stopping l<strong>and</strong>filling <strong>and</strong> treating residues by
2020. This is an ambitious <strong>and</strong> very difficult to achieve objective <strong>and</strong> includes,
recovering waste incineration residues <strong>and</strong> further developing treatment
technologies such as sorting <strong>and</strong> MBT. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
Except for recycling targets for packaging waste, very few quantitative targets
have been set at federal levels. Those that exist generally apply to paper <strong>and</strong>
cardboard. In addition to the targets of the 2004 Packaging Directive, the paper
industry has committed itself to recycle around 80 % of waste paper in a
voluntary agreement. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
7.2. The German policy
Germany is a federal republic made up of sixteen federal states (Bundesländer).
Responsibility for waste management <strong>and</strong> environmental protection is shared
between the national government, the federal states <strong>and</strong> the local authorities.
The national Ministry of Environment sets priorities, participates in the
enactment of laws <strong>and</strong> oversees strategic planning, information <strong>and</strong> public
relations <strong>and</strong> defines requirements for waste facilities. Each federal state adopts
its own waste management act containing supplementary regulations to the
national law, e.g. concerning regional waste management concepts <strong>and</strong> rules on
requirements for disposal. There is no national waste management planning in
Germany. Instead, each federal state develops a waste management plan for its
area. (EEA Report No 7/.,2009)
According to the producer responsibility principle, which is a core tenet of
German waste legislation, the producer of a product generally still has
responsibility for the product when it becomes waste. However, this principle