The Circular Economy Initiative Deutschland, funded by funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the participating companies, brings together economic, scientific and societal stakeholders. The initiative aims to develop joint targets and a concrete plan to achieve a Circular Economy in Germany.

Within the CEID, three pertinent areas of study were identified for further research: Circular Business Models, Circular Batteries, and Circular Packaging. For each of the aforementioned areas, a working group consisting of representatives from industry, academia and civil society was established. Each working group investigated the potential of the Circular Economy for their relevant topics, and compiled the results in a report. These findings will in turn be integrated into a comprehensive roadmap towards a Circular Economy in Germany, which will be published in Spring 2021.

The working group on packaging consists of 21 member organizations, covering the entire value chain of packaging. Over the course of 15 months, the working group developed a target vision for circular packaging in Germany and established a proposed roadmap to achieve this vision. The final report describes which necessary boundary conditions need to be established for a Circular Economy in packaging to work, identifies existing barriers, describes circularity levers and outlines a list of 42 measures that need to be implemented by different stakeholders in order to achieve the target vision.

“The Circular Economy Initiative Germany confirmed the importance of cross-value-chain collaboration. Having representatives from the entire packaging value chain around the table created a comprehensive and systemic view of our industry. This is the only way to successfully manage this transformation of the packaging market and to address circular economy as an opportunity space,” said Dr. Ralph Detsch, Chief Technology Officer at Siegwerk. The report will be presented to the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and can be utilized to inform future policy-making processes.