MDR-A actions
During the 2023 and 2024 reporting period, Interzero took action in many different areas in order to raise awareness about the topics of waste prevention, resource conservation and the circular economy. Consumer communications were a key point of focus here.
Waste sorting works – and we can all take a few seconds to help to protect the climate and our resources. While many households are on board with sorting, there is still room for improvement. In some cases, mis-sorting into the yellow bin is actually growing worse, not better. All of which means we need effective ways to keep people informed and motivated, and help change sorting habits over the long term. These were the goals set by the ‘Waste separation works!’ initiative from the dual systems for its 2024 campaign ‘Germany’s sorting it out. Are you?’, with Interzero providing significant assistance and strong support from the general public.
This was the first time that the dual systems, waste advice agencies, retailers and waste management companies had worked together to encourage widespread public participation. More than 200 of around 400 waste management regions in Germany volunteered as partners for what was the largest nationwide public information campaign to date on waste separation. Local waste advisors, mayors and county commissioners also supported the campaign as ‘Sorting Ambassadors’ to drive home the message among their communities. Some were also happy to be featured on campaign posters and on the radio to provide advice on correct waste sorting. Live events with the three-metre-tall XXL packaging props attracted plenty of attention, as did a wide range of social media and PR activities. The partner campaign, which covered a catchment area of around 40 million people throughout Germany, was sponsored by the then Federal Environment Minister Steffi Lemke.
Interzero has been commissioning scientists from the Fraunhofer UMSICHT Institute to produce the annual ‘resources SAVED by recycling’ study for more than 15 years to prove the extent to which recycling recyclable materials contributes to reducing the burden on the environment – and informs the public about the results. Their report on environmental performance provides a detailed comparison of primary production and recycling, including all of the necessary process steps. In 2023 alone, Interzero saved more than 11.1 million tonnes of primary raw materials by its closed-loop management of about 2.5 million tonnes of recyclables. That’s equivalent to the raw materials needed for the clothing bought every year by about 28.6 million EU citizens. Interzero’s activities also avoided around 1.2 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions – a figure equivalent to the carbon emissions from the annual textiles purchased by 4.5 million EU citizens.
Educate, motivate, make things happen together: these are also the declared goals of the campaign that Interzero launched with the Global Footprint Network (GFN) in 2022. The GFN uses figures from a Fraunhofer study to calculate every year the extent to which Interzero and its customers have pushed back ‘Earth Overshoot Day’ and reduced overexploitation. In 2024, the theoretical boundary of this global ‘Earth overshoot’ would have been crossed about 7 minutes and 12 seconds earlier without Interzero’s innovative solutions and recycling activities.
Alongside other communication channels, Interzero also makes targeted use of social media to keep the closed-loop community informed, to support dialogue within the industry and to work together to make things happen.
