Who actually recovers the packaging — and what the per-kilogram fees pay for
This is the question behind every per-kilogram price list, and it is the one the market explains worst. A representative does not collect or recycle anything. The per-kilogram fees are not the representative's revenue: they are the <b>Lizenzentgelt</b> paid to whichever organisation is legally approved to run collection and recycling. Germany has two such routes, approved by two different authorities.
VerpackDG § 20 VerpackDG § 22 VerpackDG § 7 
ZSVR 
RIGK
| Packaging type | Who carries the recovery | Approved by | Approval time | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Household and e-commerce packaging (systembeteiligungspflichtig) | A duales System. § 20 requires it to be set up across the whole Land, to hold agreements with the public waste-management bodies, and to have the sorting and recycling capacity to put what it collects through pre-treatment and high-quality recycling. Producers participate under § 7 and pay per material type and mass. | Competent Land authority | 18 weeks | VerpackDG § 20 |
| B2B and other non-system packaging | Either the producer organises § 39 take-back itself, or it hands the responsibility to a sonstige Organisation für Herstellerverantwortung approved by ZSVR under § 22. RIGK, GVÖ, KBS and their joint venture PACKLIANCE are the established operators here. | ZSVR | 3 months | VerpackDG § 22 |
So yes — Germany has the equivalent of a French eco-organisme, and it has two kinds. The dual systems are the household ones, and the per-kilogram rates any representative quotes you are that system's licence fee passed on. The difference from France is that German dual systems are private companies competing on price, approved per Land rather than nationally, which is why quoted rates differ between providers and why no single official tariff exists to compare against.
The dual systems (household packaging)
ZSVR's published list of system operators. A producer may contract freely with any of them; the representative concludes that contract in its own name.
- BellandVision GmbH
- Der Grüne Punkt – Duales System Deutschland GmbH
- EKO-PUNKT GmbH & Co. KG
- Interzero Recycling Alliance GmbH / Lizenzero
- Landbell AG für Rückhol-Systeme
- Noventiz Dual GmbH
- PreZero Dual GmbH
Industrial and transport packaging take-back systems
A different market from the household dual systems above. Transport packaging delivered to businesses is generally not subject to system participation — it falls under the take-back duty in VerpackDG § 39, which these manufacturer-backed systems serve.
- RIGK GmbH (Wiesbaden)
- GVÖ mbH (Hamburg)
- KBS Recycling
- PACKLIANCE GmbH (RIGK · GVÖ · KBS, founded November 2025)
The three German EPR regimes
Germany runs producer responsibility with a register in three regimes. There is no German EPR for textiles, furniture, toys, DIY or sport — those exist in France, not here.
| Stream | Register | Representative mandatory? | Who registers? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Packaging | ZSVR / LUCID VerpackDG § 5 | Since 12 August 2026 | You register in LUCID yourself; the representative does everything else |
| Electrical & electronic equipment | stiftung ear ElektroG § 8 | Since 2015 (ElektroG § 8) | The representative registers for you — you cannot self-register |
| Batteries | stiftung ear stiftung ear — Bevollmächtigter | Yes (BattG § 26(2)) | The representative registers for you |
Free to use and cite under CC BY 4.0. If you quote a figure, please link the provider's page as well as this one.
Sources: ZSVR — Bevollmächtigung · ZSVR — manufacturer vs producer · ZSVR — Systembetreiber · VerpackDG § 5 · VerpackDG § 6 · VerpackDG § 7 · VerpackDG § 19 · VerpackDG § 20 · VerpackDG § 22 · ZSVR — Zulassungsverfahren · VerpackDG § 39 · VerpackDG § 66 · VerpackDG § 68 · Regulation (EU) 2025/40 (PPWR) · ElektroG § 8 · ElektroG § 37 · stiftung ear — Bevollmächtigter · BGBl. 2026 I Nr. 207 · RIGK — VerpackDG solution · PACKLIANCE (RIGK · GVÖ · KBS) · rep-germany.de · verpackgo.com (Green Dot Rep) · ecosistant.eu · lizenzero.com (Interzero) · authoriseme.eu