How do I translate…'ein duales System' into English?

Anybody even remotely connected to the German waste management business understands what a 'duales System' is.

How do we translate this concept into English, though? Plug 'duales System' into Google Translate or Deepl and you get, wait for it, dual system.

Which means very little to businesses outside the German-speaking world.

So, what do we call it in English?

Let's backtrack a minute and define the term. Broadly speaking, a ‘duales System’ is an extended producer responsibility (EPR) organisation that arranges the collection and management of post-consumer sales packaging. We could use that as a translation but it's not very snappy.

Managing post-consumer sales packaging is a growing business since companies selling products in Germany (and many other countries) have to fulfil reporting requirements and help to cover the cost of collecting, sorting and recycling their packaging waste by paying a licence fee to a ‘duales System’.

International businesses serving the German market need to know what a ‘duales System’ is and the bottom line is that 'dual system' isn't going to clue them in quickly.

The websites of similar organisations in English-speaking countries are a great place to start. What do they call themselves? After spending just a few minutes on the websites of Valpak and Clarity and the National Packaging Waste Database, you'll find that these organisations are referred to as providers of packaging compliance services or, most often in the UK, a packaging compliance scheme.

Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner!

Want to help international companies to understand their obligations under German packaging law? Tell them about your packaging compliance scheme!

*This quick tip refers to a ‘duales System’ as a general concept, not to the Green Dot organisation Duales System Deutschland (DSD).