Radeberger comes around in controversy over Corona bottles
Where would we be without watchful non-governmental organisations? Having been accused by the environmental pressure group Deutsche Umwelthilfe of dodging on deposits (BRAUWELT International reported), German brewer Radeberger, which imports Corona, has acknowledged some “oversight”. On 10 July 2012 Radeberger promised that it would now put the Corona bottles into a proper recycling system, which, according to German law, means that the empties have to be returned to source where they are refilled and then shipped back to Germany. In the past, the empties were collected and shipped to Mexico to be “recycled” (whatever that means in Mexico), in exchange for which Grupo Modelo sent new bottles to Germany. This is in clear violation of German law.
Since only new bottles were sold in Germany, Deutsche Umwelthilfe charged Radeberger with unlawfully collecting a deposit of EUR 0.08 for returnable bottles, whereas it should have asked consumers for a deposit of EUR 0.25 as applies to non-returnable bottles.
Deutsche Umwelthilfe argued that Radeberger thus gained a competitive advantage by fraudulent means. Thanks to the lower deposit, the popular Corona six-pack was about one euro cheaper than it should have been at the point of sale.
The environmental pressure group is not going to let off Radeberger easily. "With the announcement on 10 July 2012, Radeberger admitted that for years they have systematically deceived their customers. The excuse given by Radeberger’s top man Dr. Albert Christmann that they had only learned through Deutsche Umwelthilfe how recyclable and reusable are defined [by German law], is an incredible act", Juergen Resch, Managing Director of Deutsche Umwelthilfe, said.
Also, Deutsche Umwelthilfe called the establishment of a transcontinental reusable bottle system between Mexico and Germany "ecological nonsense"
Given the many inconsistencies, the Hessian Ministry of the Environment and the regional council in Frankfurt (Main) will examine the matter now.
