Germany generates staggering amounts of throwaway waste: 2.8 billion disposable cups and 1.3 billion plastic lids every year — around 320,000 cups every single hour. Because most cups combine paper with a plastic lining, 99% are never recycled. The cleanup bill for a mid-size city runs to nearly a million euros annually. Tübingen, a historic university city of around 90,000 people in southwestern Germany, decided it had had enough.
In January 2022, the city introduced a packaging tax: 50 cents on every piece of disposable to-go packaging — cups, boxes, wrappers — and 20 cents on throwaway cutlery or straws. Businesses pay it; whether they pass the cost to customers is their own choice. McDonald's local franchisee, Susanne Heppert, sued immediately, taking the case all the way to Germany's Federal Constitutional Court. In January 2025, that court rejected the complaint entirely. Cities, it confirmed, have the legal right to levy such a tax.
Four years in, the results are tangible. Reusable containers in the city have quadrupled. Three quarters of local eateries have cut their single-use packaging. The tax raised over €1 million in 2022 — but by 2025, projections had dropped to €800,000, a figure Mayor Boris Palmer considers a success: fewer disposables being used means less revenue, not less impact. The city uses the funds for street cleaning, waste management, and grants helping businesses switch to reusable systems.
Konstanz introduced the same model in January 2025, Freiburg followed in January 2026, and Deutsche Umwelthilfe — Germany's leading environmental action group — reports 155 more cities are considering it. Bavaria, meanwhile, has passed a law barring its municipalities from adopting the tax — a sign that not everyone is convinced, but also that everyone is paying attention.