Prices for RIGK customers in industry and agriculture will remain stable in 2013

Wiesbaden, October 2012 – RIGK will once again keep its prices stable in 2013 even though the energy costs for transporting the waste plastics have risen enormously.

This means that fillers and distributors who license used and emptied plastics packaging via the RIGK- and the RIGK-G-SYSTEM (G stands for Gefahrstoff =hazardous material) will continue to have a reliable basis for calculation. So, too, will the crop protection industry, which passes on the empty sales packaging from crop protection products, special fertilizers, bonding agents and spray cleaners via the PAMIRA® system as well as seed dressing packs via the PAMIRA-BEIZE system for correct, environmentally compatible recovery.

RIGK Managing Director Markus Dambeck said: “We are proud that we have succeeded once again in cushioning negative economic developments in the EU region through continuously winning new trademark users and end-users, increasing volumes and making consistent use of cost-cutting potential in the recovery chain. This means that industry, trade and agriculture can, in the 21st year of our existence, also benefit from our company’s proven and sustainably policy.”

RIGK- and RIGK-G-SYSTEM
The relevant licence fees for industrial, trade and commercial users under the RIGKand RIGK-G-SYSTEMs are calculated according to the empty weight of the packaging put into circulation. Examples are €69 per tonne for PE and €85 per tonne for PP plastic sacks of categories 1 to 6, €175 per tonne for combined plastic packaging and €155 per tonne for Big Bags. The licence fee for rigid packaging is €99 or €159 per tonne, depending on the contents (see table 1).

The fees for the RIGK-G-SYSTEM for the recovery of plastic packaging containing hazardous substances (table 2) will also remain constant, as will the annual minimum fee for small volumes for both the RIGK- and RIGK-G-SYSTEM. With regard to the RIGK-G-SYSTEM, labelling in accordance with GHS now applies along with the hazard symbols from the German Gefahrstoffverordnung (Ordinance on Dangerous Materials). Labelling in accordance with GHS, which has been in effect since December 2010, is mandatory for all pure substances and will become mandatory for all GHS mixtures from 2015 onwards (see table 3).

PAMIRA-SYSTEM and PAMIRA-BEIZE
The fees for the acceptance and recovery of plastic packaging from agricultural customers is based on the weight of the returned volume (see table 4). Disposal of crop protection packaging in the PAMIRA® system will also remain at € 890 per tonne in 2013, with a minimum annual fee of € 600. The much higher – but also unchanged – fee of € 1,675 per tonne for the annual return of seed dressing packaging in the PAMIRA-BEIZE system is due to the more complicated logistics and recycling. Packaging for seed dressing powder with a capacity of more than 50 litres can generally not be rinsed for technical reasons and, unlike packaging from the PAMIRASYSTEM, is treated as hazardous. They are collected on a specifically arranged date as part of the BEIZE recovery concept, which is aimed at seed dressing producers and treating companies.

The company
RIGK GmbH (www.rigk.de) was founded in 1992 and, as a certified speciality company for trademark users (packagers, distributors, wholesalers and importers), coordinates the recovery of used and empty used packaging from their German customers and feeds these
into a secure and lasting recycling. In doing so, the company’s services for industrial and commercial packaging of non-hazardous (RIGK-SYSTEM) and hazardous contents (RIGK-GSYSTEM) apply.

Additional RIGK services include RIGK-PICKUP (the free-of-charge pickup of used empty packaging at industrial and commercial consumers) as well as the recovery system PAMIRA® (agricultural pesticide packaging) – which is coordinated with the agricultural industry – BEIZE (seed agent dressing) and PELLE & NETTI (agricultural films, nets and yarns). Beyond this, the company advises clients on the development of individual recovery and recycling solutions. RIGK is represented internationally with an office in Romania. The Romanian subsidiary (www.rigk.ro) also assumes the recovery and recycling of used packaging and plastics. The shareholders of RIGK GmbH are renowned manufacturers of plastics and packing materials.

Table 1: Scale of fees 2013 for plastic packaging containing non-hazardous products (RIGK-SYSTEM)

* plastic packaging combined with other materials (e.g. PE/aluminium, PE/PA)
** colourful, adhesive and highly viscous materials (e.g. hardener, adhesive, bitumen, emulsion paint etc.)
*** other materials
Category 1: Inorganic compounds with alkali reaction
Category 2: Inorganic compounds with acidic reaction
Category 3: Inorganic inert compounds
Category 4: Organic compounds which do not react with each other
Category 5: Organic polymer compounds
Category 6: PVC
Category 7: Soot
Category 8: Paint pigments
Category S: Foodstuffs and fodder, peat, earthen products, wood dust etc.

Table 2: Scale of fees 2013 for plastic packaging containing hazardous products (RIGK-G-SYSTEM)

A: Hazardous packaging, which requires

• labelling with the hazard symbols Xi – Irritant and Xn – Harmful respectively
• codification according to GHS 07 and 08.

B: Hazardous packaging which requires

• labelling with the hazard symbols C – Corrosive, F – Highly flammable, F+ – Extremely flammable, – Oxidizing, N – Dangerous for the environment, T – Toxic and T+ – Very toxic, or respectively
• codification according to GHS 02, 03, 05, 06 and 09, or
• labelling with the hazard labels of classes 3, 4.1, 4.2, 4.3, 5.1, 5.2, 8 and 9.

Table 3. Hazard labels valid for the reprocessing groups A and B of the RIGK-G-SYSTEM

Table 4: Fees 2013 for agricultural packaging (PAMIRA-SYSTEM and PAMIRA-BEIZE)