Plastics recycling in Germany

1997/05/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Birziklatzea

The old chemical plants that were built in Germany to transform coal into oil or gas are currently being used to recycle plastic. But environmentalists claim that this measure indicates that the government considers economic interests more important than the environment. According to them, a lot of money is being invested in recycling, but little has been done by the government against waste generation.

These old recycling plants are, above all, factories that failed in East Germany. Once Germany had met, they were given a solution and adapted for recycling. Not everyone seems to agree with this decision. In addition to the protests of environmentalists, some scientists say that these plants continue to use coal and that mixed with plastic coal, too much primary energy is consumed. Therefore, new and cheaper plastic waste recycling systems are being implemented in some plants.