Recyling queen
Tonight after dinner, as Tim and I were clearing off the table, Tim turned to me with an empty plastic container and said, “Where shall I put this, O Almighty Ruler of Recycling?” And he was serious. I often manage to catch him breaking one of the all-important recycling decrees in Germany, so he should be serious! :)
The German government is equally serious when it comes to recycling. Recyling is mandatory by law, the primary categories being paper, plastic, glass, metal cans, batteries, chemicals, and compost. For our apartment complex, we have one tiny garbage can outside, an equally big compost can, and two significantly larger bins for paper - all of which are emptied every two weeks. In the neighborhood, about a 5 minute walk from our apartment, we have a glass bin (that is, a metal bin that serves as a used glass reciprocal) which has separate holes for brown, green and white glass. Next to that, there’s a bin for the metal cans; in Europe, those are mostly from canned vegetables but some can be from canned drinks.
The recycling of plastic is also taken very seriously, more seriously than in many other countries of Europe. Most kinds of hard plastic bottles have a deposit associated with them of 25 euro cents (”Pfand” in German), which you get back by turning in the bottle at the supermarket. For all other plastic, the government distributes rolls of special, paper-thin, yellow plastic bags, which everyone must use by law to dispose of all random kinds of plastic packing materials. That includes kitchen plastic like milk and juice containers and wrappings on pasta or cheese, but it also includes plastic from consumer purchases or empty shower bottles. The yellow plastic bags are picked up every two weeks. Companies that sell goods packaged in plastic have to pay money to the government to support the recycling of the yellow bags and their contents.
Batteries can be turned in at places like the supermarket. There are special door-to-door collections held for chemical wastes. Other things, like wood, electrical cables, CD’s, and styrofoam, can be taken to the junkyard where there is a special bin for each. And finally, what’s left over is actual trash. If you can’t fit it in your tiny trash bin, you can pay 5 euro per bag to take it to the junkyard.
Oh, I almost forgot to mention: we recently discovered there is recycling etiquette! A neighbor of ours left a letter on the compost bin, asking everyone to please wrap compost in newspaper to minimize the stink. I was like, newspaper in compost?! But sure enough, when I looked it up, you’re allowed to do that. My first compost etiquette lesson, how quaint.
on May 30th, 2007 at 20:42
OMG and i tought i have heard every thing about the reciceling in germany. man you almost should get payed to do al that. its like a second jobe lol. but in the end its all for the goods of nature! ps about the plastics i think they should do that here in the netherlands to! and my friend who works at a plastic bag factory says the complete factory there is already doing it and colects the plastics them self and melt it again to make more bags.
on June 1st, 2007 at 16:08
Last night we hosted a cookout for our Care Group. In the US, it is typical to use styrofoam plates, plastic silverware and cups, and trash all of it. My mom uses paper plates, which she burns, and real silverware, which she burns. I used plastic plates and cups and silverware, all of which are meant to be trashed, but I washed it all. I didn’t use my glass dishes and real silverware because I was concerned about breakage and I didn’t have enough.
What do the Europeans do for plates, etc at cookouts or potlucks?