ABSTRACT
In January 1993, the Swedish government proposed take-back legislation for packages and products that is similar to the German Green Dot program. The plan would require 65 percent recycling of plastics by 1997. The ordinance allows manufacturers to use independent contractors to collect used transport packaging, or to reimburse retailers for its recycling. Neither an environmental certification program nor a recycling program exists in the United States on a national level. The European Community and the following countries have established or proposed packaging recycling programs. Many of them also have environmental certification programs. Austria's recycling program is based on the German program of making industry responsible for taking back packaging waste. In addition, making fees weight-based and material-specific, like those of the Duales System Deutschland (DSD), increases the incentive for manufacturers to reduce the costs of packaging. DSD provides special drop-off and curbside collection for all packages with the green dot.
