Paper atlas competition ("Wettbewerb Papieratlas")

Published on November 26, 2019

With the paper atlas competition, the Initiative Pro Recycling Paper annually seeks the most recycling paper-friendly cities (since 2008), universities (since 2016) and administrative districts (since 2018) in Germany. Cities with more than 50,000 inhabitants, all German administrative districts and universities with more than 5,000 students are called upon to make their paper consumption and recycling paper quotas transparent. The paper atlas honours all participants for the use of recycled paper with the "Blue Angel" label. Furthermore, it illustrates the ecological savings effects in the areas of energy, water and CO2 emissions in total. The results of the paper atlas were presented at a press event in autumn 2019 at the Federal Ministry for the Environment in Berlin and the winners were awarded in the categories "Most recyclable paper-friendly city/county/university", "Ascender of the year" and "Multiple winner". The publication "Papieratlas 2019" describes the evaluation system of the competition and also shows the recycling paper quotas the different cities, administrative districts and universities.

In 2019 more than 180 municipalities and universities participated in the paper atlas competition. On average, the 102 large and medium-sized cities use 89 percent recycled paper with the Blue Angel and thus set a new record. The 45 universities (on average) achieved a recycling paper quota of over 70 percent. In addition to paper consumption and recycled paper quotas, the paper atlas also represents the ecological saving effects of all participants: by using recycled paper, they save (in total) around 530 million liters of water and 110 million kilowatt hours of energy.