Ordinances

Since 1991, every manufacturer or distributor has had to provide for the collection, sorting and recycling of packaging material. 

Since 2007, vehicle manufacturers have been obliged to accept free of charge the return of end-of-life vehicles of their own brand. End-of-life vehicles may only be accepted by suitable sites with the appropriate certification (collection and disposal points, dismantling facilities) and processed by the appropriate dismantling facilities and shredder equipment. 

Retailers must accept the return of waste oil free of charge – in the quantity that fresh combustion engine and gearbox oils are sold.

Consumers must return waste electrical and electronic equipment ("electrical scrap") to communal collection points free of charge. Manufacturers of electrical and electronic devices must accept the return of the devices as part of their responsibility for the product and dispose of them or have them disposed of properly. 

Consumers are not permitted to dispose of batteries in general waste. Since 1998, manufacturers are required to accept the return of used batteries free of charge and to recycle them. Manufacturers have set up a comprehensive return system for this purpose. Used batteries must be returned to the point of sale or to the collection points of local authority waste disposal services.

Waste wood must be recycled so as to recover either its material or energy. Waste wood containing toxic substances must only be burned in special facilities.