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My closing statement read: "There is only one real effective and incentive method to encourage environmentally sound collecting of beverage one-way containers and it is deposit in combination with High-Tech R&D resulted Reverse Vending Machines!

What about packaging "waste"?

Why do we need packaging? Packaging not only contains but it also protects and preserves the product, it also informs about it and helps people to choose by promoting and advertising the goods. And do not forget: packaging is what makes self-service in shops possible.

Packaging is all around us, and not merely PET. Think about when you buy food: a snack, a drink, a sweet: they are all packaged.

It is very important that packaging waste be collected and recycled because this seriously diminishes the amount of waste going to landfills – or into the ground.

For this reason, the European Union, back in the 1980ies, decided to introduce measures for the management of packaging waste within Europe and, in 1994 it adopted a directive on packaging and packaging waste. In December 2001, the European Commission put forward a proposal revising the EU Packaging and Packaging Waste regulations.

After many discussions between the European Council and the European Parliament, the proposal was agreed in December 2003 and the Packaging Directive was finally amended in February 2004. The Directive is now referred at with the following code: 2004/12/EC.

The directive says that whomever is responsible of placing packaging onto the market is also responsible for taking care of the packaging waste.

As taking back packaging waste is a complex task, the companies producing or using packaging (such as food and drinks manufacturing companies) have decided to set up and fund specific organisations, the so-called “green dot organisations”, to take on the task of recuperating packaging waste on their account.

The money managed by green dot organisations is used to fund cities and municipalities for setting up packaging waste collection. It is up to cities and municipalities to set up collection because they are the ones who know your habits and what will be the easiest and most cost effective method of collection for your specific municipality: kerbside, drop off location, return vending machines or deposit schemes.

See ? Everything has been set into place for packaging waste to be recovered. Remember to separate your wastes is really useful! And the recyclables you set apart in your household are indeed recycled! Do not forget to tell this to all your friends!

OK guys, now you know all about PET and PET recycling try out our quiz!

For those of you who are sure they could successfully manage the many steps in the collection and recycling of PET, try out our game on collection and recycling!

If you still have questions about PET and PET recycling, do not hesitate to contact Petcore on the email address: info@petcore.org!

To learn more about PET and PET recycling, have a look at PETCORE video The PET lifecycle video