Cologne City Council Paves the Way for Packaging Tax
Introduction
The Cologne City Council has taken a significant step towards implementing a packaging tax in the Rhine metropolis. The council adopted a motion requesting the city administration to prepare a corresponding draft resolution, bringing tax proponents a step closer to their goal.
Motion and Inspiration
The motion was jointly submitted by the Green and CDU factions in the Cologne City Council. It calls for the "introduction of a packaging tax in Cologne based on the Tübingen model." The motion also specifies that, "Unlike the Tübingen regulation, drive-in services should also be taxed."
Tübingen has been levying a tax since early 2022 of 50 cents on single-use packaging such as coffee cups, 50 cents on disposable tableware such as fry trays, and 20 cents on disposable cutlery. A complaint against this tax was dismissed by the Federal Constitutional Court at the end of January, providing legal certainty for other cities looking to follow suit.
Rationale and Concerns
According to Robert Schallehn, environmental policy spokesperson for the Greens in the Cologne Council, the tax aims to "create incentives for reusable solutions" and contribute to sustainable consumption. He emphasizes, "The mountains of waste from single-use packaging are a burden on our city and the environment."
However, during the council’s deliberations, concerns were also raised. Volker Görzel from the Free Democratic Party (FDP) criticized the move as "introducing a bureaucratic monster."
Industry Opposition
Industry associations have also warned of negative consequences for affected businesses. Cologne is the first major city planning to implement such a tax. Jörg Hamel, managing director of the North Rhine-Westphalia Chamber of Commerce Aachen-Düren-Cologne, states, "We are pursuing the goal of making Cologne’s city center cleaner and reducing packaging waste across all sectors." However, he argues that a municipal packaging tax is "the wrong tool" to achieve this goal. "Especially given the economic situation of many businesses, this additional tax would create an enormous financial and bureaucratic burden."
Markus Suchert, managing director of the Federal Association of System Gastronomy (BdS), adds that additional costs would be "unsustainable" for small and medium-sized local businesses. "If the costs are passed on to customers, there is a risk of a further dramatic decline in visitor numbers, which already poses an existential threat to businesses as many people can no longer afford to dine out."
Next Steps
The city administration is now tasked with preparing a draft resolution for the introduction of the packaging tax. The council will then vote on the final proposal at a later meeting.
The outcome of this vote will determine whether Cologne becomes the next German city to implement a packaging tax. The industry groups opposed to the tax are expected to continue their resistance, while environmental advocates will be closely monitoring the progress of the initiative.
Conclusion
The Cologne City Council’s decision to pursue a packaging tax is a significant development in the ongoing debate over how to reduce single-use plastics and promote sustainable consumption. If implemented, Cologne would join a growing number of German cities, including Tübingen, Bremen, and Freiburg, that have adopted similar measures. The outcome of this tax proposal could have implications for other major cities across the country considering similar initiatives.
