Due to a lack of mass, the drugstore chain has prematurely discontinued the collection of plastic bottles.
The pilot project, in which plastic bottles without deposit from the detergent and cosmetics sectors were collected in dm stores and then processed into plastic recyclates, started in October 2021 and was originally scheduled to run for one year. The project was stopped because, according to dm Managing Director Kerstin Erbe, not enough material had been collected. The dm customers returned too few plastic bottles to make the test run, which was carried out in 150 dm stores in the Karlsruhe and Munich areas, economically viable to continue, it says. Nevertheless, Erbe says the project has also produced positive results. For example, it has become clear through cooperation with plastics recyclers that recyclates were now available on the market in the required quantities and qualities. The industry leader could thus achieve its goal of using at least 50 percent recycled material in all plastic packaging in the nonfood range by 2025.