Green Dot (Der Grüne Punkt)
What it looks like
Two interlocking arrows forming a circle, one light green and one dark green, chasing each other clockwise. Often printed in black and white.
What it means
This is the most misread symbol in the whole family, and the correction is worth stating flatly: the Green Dot is a licence mark, not an environmental one. A company pays a fee per tonne of packaging placed on the market, that money funds collection and sorting infrastructure in that country, and the mark shows the fee was paid. A pack made of unrecyclable multilayer laminate carries it just as legitimately as a cardboard box. It is a registered trademark of Der Grüne Punkt — Duales System Deutschland, licensed across Europe through PRO Europe. Germany stopped requiring it in 2009 and its use has been shrinking since, but it still appears on packaging sold across dozens of markets, including some where no corresponding scheme exists.
Defined by PRO Europe / Der Grüne Punkt licence scheme. Where a symbol differs between standards, the difference is described above rather than resolved — both versions are in circulation on real labels.
Other packaging and recycling symbols
| Symbol | Means |
|---|---|
| Mobius loop (chasing arrows) | The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it. |
| Mobius loop with a percentage | The pack contains that percentage of recycled material. |
| Tidyman | Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling. |
| Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol | Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection. |
| Aluminium recycling (alu) | The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium. |
| Recyclable steel | The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling. |
| Compostable seedling (EN 13432) | Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment. |
| Home compostable | Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature. |
| FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) | The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard. |
| PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) | The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses. |
| OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK) | Whether this specific component is collected by most UK councils. |
| Triman (France) | In France, this product or packaging is subject to sorting rules and must not go in the general waste. |
| Estimated sign (℮) | The quantity is an average across the batch, checked under the EU average-quantity system. |
Common questions
- What does the green dot (der grüne punkt) symbol mean?
- The producer paid into a national packaging recovery scheme. It does not mean the pack is recyclable, recycled, or made of recycled material.
- What does it look like?
- Two interlocking arrows forming a circle, one light green and one dark green, chasing each other clockwise. Often printed in black and white.
Related pages
- Mobius loop (chasing arrows) The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it.
- Tidyman Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling.
- OPRL — Recycle / Don't Recycle (UK) Whether this specific component is collected by most UK councils.
- Triman (France) In France, this product or packaging is subject to sorting rules and must not go in the general waste.
- Mobius loop (chasing arrows) The producer claims the item can be recycled — not that it will be, and not that your council collects it.
- Mobius loop with a percentage The pack contains that percentage of recycled material.
- Tidyman Dispose of this thoughtfully. It has nothing to do with recycling.
- Glass recycling (bottle bank) symbol Take this glass to a bottle bank or glass collection.
- Aluminium recycling (alu) The item is aluminium and can be recycled as aluminium.
- Recyclable steel The item is steel — usually tinplate — and is separated magnetically for recycling.
- Compostable seedling (EN 13432) Certified to break down in an industrial composting facility — not in a home heap, a bin or the environment.
- Home compostable Certified to break down in an ordinary garden compost heap at ambient temperature.
- FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) The wood or paper comes from forests audited against the Forest Stewardship Council standard.
- PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) The wood or paper is certified under a national forestry scheme that PEFC endorses.
Sources
- Official vendor product documentation — At One Place