Mock 1 statistics

Question 1

What was the recycling rate for plastics in 1991?

Answer 1

3.1%

Question 2

What was the recycling rate for plastics in 2014?

Answer 2

57.7%

Question 3

What percentage of German waste ends up in landfills?

Answer 3

1%

Question 4

What percentage of Greek waste ends up in landfills?

Answer 4

80%

Question 5

Why is the small amount of waste in landfills actually not so positive?

Answer 5

Germany is the highest exporter of plastic waste in Europe so a lot of their waste is incinerated or ends up in landfills of other countries. It is hard to monitor what these countries do with the waste.

Question 6

What was banned in July 2021?

Answer 6

Packaging like plastic cutlery, plastic straws, cotton swabs and some food containers made of polystyrene. This was meant to help reduce the amount of single use plastic.

Question 7

Since when is the green dot no longer required on packaging?

Answer 7

2009

Question 8

What problems does the green dot not being required cause?

Answer 8

Widespread myth that only rubbish with a green dot can be put in the yellow bin which means that it can be hard for consumers to know which bin to put rubbish in. Can lead to rubbish being put in the wrong bin.

Question 9

What are the problems with the Pfand system?

Answer 9

Some people think the effort of returning the bottle is not worth the small deposit. It also makes people think they’re being environmentally friendly for buying and returning single use plastic bottles. Doesn’t do anything to stop single use bottles being used in the first place.

Question 10

By how much has the overall percentage of reusable bottles fallen?

Answer 10

From 80% to below 50%.

Question 11

How much rubbish did Germany produce in 2018?

Answer 11

417 million tons.

Question 12

How much packaging waste did Germany produce in 2018?

Answer 12

19 million tons.

Question 13

How much waste was incinerated in 2018?

Answer 13

53% (more waste was incinerated than recycled).

Question 14

Why is it a problem to produce a lot of rubbish?

Answer 14

Landfills and incineration release methane which contributes to global warming. Uses a lot of energy to produce and recycle packaging waste which means fossil fuels will be burned and this also causes global warming.

Question 15

Why is so much waste incinerated?

Answer 15

It is cheaper to create new plastic than it is to recycle old plastic.

Question 16

How much organic waste is wrongly incinerated every year after ending up in the residual waste bin?

Answer 16

3.3 million tons even though there is a legal obligation to separate organic waste.

Question 17

What percentage of waste in the residual waste bin doesn’t actually belong there?

Answer 17

70%

Question 18

Why does downcycling have to happen?

Answer 18

Because plastic waste is often contaminated. For example yoghurt cups are coated with paper to give the packaging a nicer feel but this massively affects the quality of the plastic so has to be downcycled or incinerated.

Question 19

What is an example of greenwashing?

Answer 19

Bio-plastic bags. They still don’t decompose naturally as it takes years for them to start to biodegrade.

Question 20

Why is greenwashing a problem?

Answer 20

It makes it hard for consumers to know which products and brands are actually eco-friendly.