Abstract

The ‘Green Dot’, a waste management system, was developed to reduce packaging waste as well as to increase recycling/reuse rates in Germany. The case discusses the Green Dot system, giving details about the waste collection, sorting and disposal mechanisms, the charges that companies had to pay to become a part of the system, etc. It then gives an account of the initial obstacles faced by the system and the measures taken to surmount them. It also compares the Green Dot system with the system followed in the UK. The case ends with a brief discussion on recent happenings in the German waste industry.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Understand some of the environmental and social pressures that companies have to deal with today
• Discuss the ways in which com-panies can minimize the quantity of waste that they generate, and what governments can do to encourage this
• Understand the waste management system adopted in Germany
• Analyze the advantages and dis-advantages of the system
• and Appreciate the advantages of competition and the effects of monopolization.

Keywords

Green Dot, Packaging waste, Environmental responsibilities of industry, Legislation, EU Packaging Ordinance, Waste management in Germany, Competition, Monopolization