The innovative German packaging waste policy has become a model for environmental policy in many countries since the 1990s. When the Packaging Ordinance was being introduced, the German business community founded the DSD (Duales System Deutschland) system for collecting, sorting, and recycling packaging waste in 1990. Very little is known about why the DSD system, which we assume was considered burdensome by the German business community, was put forward by conservative politicians and business leaders. This study elucidates the reasons behind the proposal of the DSD system by political and business leaders in Germany using primary sources such as unpublished archival documents related to the policymaking process. The privatization of waste collection and sorting functions and the development of the recycling industry in the former East Germany and the rest of Europe were the underlying motivations for the proposal of this system.
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