August 20, 2009
Deposit to be charged on German cans
Requiring Danes to pay a deposit on German beverage containers is seen as good for the economy and the environmentDanes who drive to Germany to buy beer and soft drinks to avoid paying a deposit on the cans will need to stock up quickly. A new agreement between the two countries will require people to pay the deposit when bringing cans across the border.
Environment Minister Troels Lund Poulsen and his German counterpart Sigmar Gabriel signed the agreement yesterday, finalising a 10-year dispute over the estimated 400 million cans that are carried over the border each year.
Because no deposit is charged on the cans, people often discard them as regular trash instead of taking them to a recycling centre.According to Poulsen, the agreement is expected to take effect before the end of 2010.
‘It’s a huge plus for the environment,’ he said, adding that the agreement will also even the playing field for Danish retailers. ‘So I expect it will result in less people going to Germany to shop.’
According to border trade organisation IGG, the agreement still needs to be fine tuned before it becomes official.
http://www.cphpost.dk/news/international/46625-deposit-to-be-charged-on-german-cans.html
