As a German by birth, I always have to smile when I see people using Germany as some sort of environmentalist role model. Germany surely is much better at propaganda than it is at recycling (or any other environmental issue, really). It all depends on the definition of the term, and in Germany trash is labeled as "recycled" if it is burned for electricity generation, or as soon as it's loaded into a container and placed on a ship bound to some poorer country. Convenient, indeed.
Regarding plastic and single-use packaging, I feel like there's an untapped business opportunity (not necessarily degrowthy but could be) to circulate reusable packaging, like the glass milk bottles of the milkman days. It would just require enough critical mass of interest from businesses for them to cooperate in using a standard packaging (ex. those glass bottles for a variety of drinks).
As a German by birth, I always have to smile when I see people using Germany as some sort of environmentalist role model. Germany surely is much better at propaganda than it is at recycling (or any other environmental issue, really). It all depends on the definition of the term, and in Germany trash is labeled as "recycled" if it is burned for electricity generation, or as soon as it's loaded into a container and placed on a ship bound to some poorer country. Convenient, indeed.
Regarding plastic and single-use packaging, I feel like there's an untapped business opportunity (not necessarily degrowthy but could be) to circulate reusable packaging, like the glass milk bottles of the milkman days. It would just require enough critical mass of interest from businesses for them to cooperate in using a standard packaging (ex. those glass bottles for a variety of drinks).