Product responsibility and recycled materials

These can be used to regulate not only the management of products that have become waste, but also the entire sector from raw material production to further processing and distribution.

German legislators and regulators have so far concentrated largely on the area of waste management, with packaging, waste electrical and electronic equipment and batteries being clear examples. Often at the instigation of the European Union, product responsibility under waste legislation is increasingly being used to regulate the manufacture of products.

The European Directive on Single-Use Plastic Products has given a foretaste of future regulations in this regard. It is also foreseeable that increasingly binding requirements for the use of recycled materials in the manufacture of (new) products will be standardised. Such regulations apply to new products, but also relate to waste, because recycled materials can only be produced from waste. There is a close link here to the legal concepts of by-products and end-of-waste.

We advise manufacturers and distributors as well as waste disposal and recycling companies on compliance with legal regulations on product responsibility, from production and distribution to waste management. We support a large number of associations in the further development of the legal framework for product responsibility, particularly with regard to binding requirements for the use of recycled materials.

Please refer to our client information on current developments in the area of product responsibility under waste law and requirements for the use of recycled materials.