This post is a little off topic - as in, it's not about our recent travels. But we have lived here for almost four years and the recycling program here has always impressed yet baffled us.
So Todd and I decided to head down to the Wertstoffhof recently and do a photo tour of the madness that is RECYCLING!
Each Saturday morning (or Friday back before I was working), we load up the car and take the recycling down to the Wertstoffhof.
The first few times we did this, it was a hot mess. There are SO many different places you can take the recycling. The Pringles can goes in a different place than the Doritos bag, which goes in a different place from the yogurt cup, which goes in a different place from the milk carton, which goes in a different place from the water bottle.
But eventually we figured it out. Or mostly. Because if you don't know where something goes, you can just ask one of the people who work there. They literally speak ZERO English. So you need to be prepared. And they will pretty much know by your accent that German isn't your first language, so they will likely point in the direction you need to go.
Folien (behind the fella in yella) is stretchy plastic. That means plastic bags from the grocery store. And pretty much anything you can stick your thumb through. If you mess up, the guy in yellow will move it to "misch" (mixed) plastics, and glare at you while yelling German obscenities. You can also see the milk carton plastics on the right. German's don't do plastic milk jugs... they put everything in paper cartons (and I support this fully!)
But this Coke can doesn't go here! Oh yes, I know it's an aluminum can and that's where you think it goes, but nope. It goes over in the Dosen dumpster. THIS is where you put little cat food tins and aluminum foil that you've used to cook. See that Papierverbunde on the left? That's for Pringles cans. You know: things that are made with paper but lined with aluminum. Cause that deserves it's own spot for recycling.
I promise you, four years in, I'm not confused by much anymore! Here I am separating butter/yogurt cups from plastic water bottles and milk (almond milk) cartons.
Wait. You thought you could just throw away those corks from all of the wine you drank? Nope.
Even glass is absurd. You have to separate it in colors. Brown, green and white. And you have to fight the wasps to toss it in these little recycling holes.
After you tossed your aluminum foil in the "plastics" area... you have to walk across the entire Wertstoffhof and dump your aluminum cans.
I don't have pictures of the large appliances, small appliances, metal, mixed metal, batteries, regular light bulbs, LED light bulbs, cardboard, random large plastics, leftover food (yes, that's a thing,) CDs and computer gear, and concrete. You have to separate EVERYTHING. Then let's not forget about the yard waste. This has a place, too (see above.) They don't come by on yard waste day and pick that up curbside like they do in the States. The only thing they do curbside is trash and paper. And paper only gets picked up once every four weeks. Trash is every other week and gets picked up in the smallest bin ever. They mean business over here: Recycling is no joke. That single stream recycling stuff we did in Massachusetts is for the birds. This is like the Olympics of recycling!
Until next week, Wertstoffhof! You're completely ridiculous, and I weirdly love you!
Each Saturday morning (or Friday back before I was working), we load up the car and take the recycling down to the Wertstoffhof.
The first few times we did this, it was a hot mess. There are SO many different places you can take the recycling. The Pringles can goes in a different place than the Doritos bag, which goes in a different place from the yogurt cup, which goes in a different place from the milk carton, which goes in a different place from the water bottle.
But eventually we figured it out. Or mostly. Because if you don't know where something goes, you can just ask one of the people who work there. They literally speak ZERO English. So you need to be prepared. And they will pretty much know by your accent that German isn't your first language, so they will likely point in the direction you need to go.
Folien (behind the fella in yella) is stretchy plastic. That means plastic bags from the grocery store. And pretty much anything you can stick your thumb through. If you mess up, the guy in yellow will move it to "misch" (mixed) plastics, and glare at you while yelling German obscenities. You can also see the milk carton plastics on the right. German's don't do plastic milk jugs... they put everything in paper cartons (and I support this fully!)
But this Coke can doesn't go here! Oh yes, I know it's an aluminum can and that's where you think it goes, but nope. It goes over in the Dosen dumpster. THIS is where you put little cat food tins and aluminum foil that you've used to cook. See that Papierverbunde on the left? That's for Pringles cans. You know: things that are made with paper but lined with aluminum. Cause that deserves it's own spot for recycling.
I promise you, four years in, I'm not confused by much anymore! Here I am separating butter/yogurt cups from plastic water bottles and milk (almond milk) cartons.
Wait. You thought you could just throw away those corks from all of the wine you drank? Nope.
Even glass is absurd. You have to separate it in colors. Brown, green and white. And you have to fight the wasps to toss it in these little recycling holes.
After you tossed your aluminum foil in the "plastics" area... you have to walk across the entire Wertstoffhof and dump your aluminum cans.
I don't have pictures of the large appliances, small appliances, metal, mixed metal, batteries, regular light bulbs, LED light bulbs, cardboard, random large plastics, leftover food (yes, that's a thing,) CDs and computer gear, and concrete. You have to separate EVERYTHING. Then let's not forget about the yard waste. This has a place, too (see above.) They don't come by on yard waste day and pick that up curbside like they do in the States. The only thing they do curbside is trash and paper. And paper only gets picked up once every four weeks. Trash is every other week and gets picked up in the smallest bin ever. They mean business over here: Recycling is no joke. That single stream recycling stuff we did in Massachusetts is for the birds. This is like the Olympics of recycling!
Until next week, Wertstoffhof! You're completely ridiculous, and I weirdly love you!
I have questions! 1) Does the German populace have the same concerns about recycling that some Americans do, like: Is all of this actually being recycled? Or is there some conspiracy theory about where it's actually going?! And, what happens when China decides not to take anymore of the recycling anymore? 2) How much square footage in your house is taken up by the bins for recycling?! Also, I actually LOVE this system. It seems easier than our "convenience centers" where you just have to HOPE they are recycling what you've taken to recycle that day, because sometimes they just aren't feeling plastics, or appliances.
ReplyDeleteGreat questions! I'm pretty sure the Germans would confidently tell you how awesome their recycling is... or at least how we are doing it ALL WRONG in America. I don't think German's recycling goes to China... unlike ours ha ha. And it's actually not a ton of space in our house. But we have a really big German house. So all of our big bins (which you can see Todd has in the back of his car) sit in the pantry. So we don't see them... or smell them. Because they do start to smell after a time. I really like the system too. If I could guarantee that single stream recycling sent all of the recycling to the proper places, I would really prefer that though! I need the best of both worlds!!!!
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