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Berlin (dpa) - The waste management industry requires supermarkets and discounters to pre-sort their no longer durable meat and their rotten fruit and vegetables.
The biowaste should be made available for collection in two different bins, says the head of the BDE waste management association, Peter Kurth.
All unpackaged food should be in one bin and food that is stored in plastic and other packaging in the other bin.
According to the BDE, there is currently only one bin available for garbage collection - for example, neck steaks are wrapped in plastic wrap next to rotten apples, lemons and heads of lettuce that are unpackaged.
The disposal companies then have to laboriously separate the packaging from the organic waste so that the ecologically usable components can be turned into compost or biogas.
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“The disposal company cannot be held solely responsible for the clean separation of waste,” complains Kurth.
Only separate collection ensures high-quality recycling and creates “the best conditions for efficient removal of all contaminants”.
Kurth referred to private households that, after all, shouldn't throw pre-sorted and spoiled food with their plastic tray into the organic waste bin.
The federal government wants to change the biowaste ordinance so that there are no more contaminants - especially plastic particles - in the compost.
She wants to make the disposal companies more responsible.
These should comb through the organic waste masses more thoroughly than before for the foreign substances before treatment and filter them out.
The food retail sector has not yet been affected by the reform.
The German trade association was not very enthusiastic about the BDE's request.
HDE managing director Antje Gerstein said that such a separation is often made where it is possible.
"An obligation to separate disposal would cause space and logistics problems for many retailers."
The volume of packaged waste is greater, so it has to be picked up significantly more often.
"In addition, two tons more space are required, which is not easily possible on all retail spaces."
She pointed out that specialized disposal companies had the necessary technology for waste separation after collection.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210219-99-504588 / 2