Germany's first zero-waste agency opens in Berlin

Germany's first zero-waste agency in Berlin is to advocate resource-conserving and sustainable consumption.

It is "an important step on Berlin's way to more waste avoidance, reuse and recycling", said environmental senator Manja Schreiner (CDU), according to a statement. "With this offer, we are the first in Germany and Europe." Schreiner and the chairwoman of the board of the Berliner Stadtreinigung (BSR), Stephanie Otto, opened the Zero Waste agency on Tuesday, according to the environmental senate administration. The term Zero Waste stands for efforts to produce as little waste as possible in everyday life, for example by doing without certain packaging and recycling all leftovers of a product.

"The best waste is the waste that is not created in the first place"

"The best waste is that which is not produced in the first place," says the agency's website. In the course of the waste management concept 2030 of the federal state of Berlin, the agency is to transform the circular economy of the capital, advise initiatives and develop waste prevention strategies. The Zero Waste Agency is independent of the BSR.