Plastic Products Smother Recyclers

The nation’s ambitious plan to recycle plastics has run into trouble because environmentally conscious Germans have collected too much.

“People have gathered far more plastics than we had expected,” said Martina Kreck of Duales System Deutschland, a private firm set up in 1991 to coordinate the national program. “We just do not have enough processing capacity.”

DSD has come under increasing criticism as plastic packaging for consumer products--marked with a distinctive green dot to signify they are recyclable--has piled up.

Regional authorities have threatened to withdraw their support for the system.

It looks as though about 400,000 tons of plastics will be collected this year, and national capacity for plastics recycling is about 165,000 tons a year.

Environment Minister Klaus Toepfer has dismissed the problem as a temporary setback. “Before, the yogurt containers and other refuse were just mixed in with other rubbish. . . . I am happy that the piles of plastic are there now for everybody to see.”