The Germans are extremely THOROUGH people. And the way they expect you to manage your trash is evidence of that. I spend more time messing around with trash... and for an American - who is used to just throwing everything away, it's a huge adjustment! I am more than happy to recycle, but they really take it to the nth degree here...
First - probably the most innocuous. Most of our soft drinks come in plastic bottles which all have deposits on them. Expensive deposits. So every week I take back the cases of empty bottles to get the deposit back at the grocery store. They have these very impressive machines which can tell how many and what type of bottles you have. It spits out a ticket, and then you have to take that to the cashier when you check out. It is very important NOT to stick it in your back pocket lest you forget to turn it in, and so then I spend half the time I'm in the store making sure Luna doesn't grab it out of my hand.
Since they don't have baggers, and don't supply grocery bags, I have this pretty little shopping basket that I have to remember to bring with me every day. Yes, I go everyday - because they don't give you bags, you don't want to buy more than you can manage in a couple bags. I also keep extra shopping bags in the back of the car - just in case I should forget my basket. Yes, they are cute, too.
This used to be my one-and-only kitchen trash can. Now it's only for plastic. That's why the yellow bag you can see sticking out. The yellow bags are supplied by the city, and you have to go to the Rathaus (town-hall) in order to get them (limit 2 rolls per person per visit - so, I stop in and pick up extras whenever I happen to be walking by!)
This is the trash bin system we installed in one of our cabinets. Thank goodness we have tons of cabinet space here! The large one on the left is for paper. The one on the front, right is for bio - meaning any actual food, which can be composted. The back right is "rest" - which includes anything that doesn't fit into the afore-mentioned categories. We also put our glass and tin cans in here - but they get separated later into a different bin in our trash room (yes, I'm serious.) Any jars, cans, glass or metal must be recycled, and so every couple weeks or so, I load those up and take them to the recycling bins at the grocery store.
I also labeled all of these, so that any guests know what is going on. The worst is when you are staying with someone or visiting, and you have to keep asking where everything goes!
Below are our 3 trash bins. Brown is for bio. It gets picked up every two weeks. And God forbid you miss a trash day - because then all that nasty stuff has to sit there for a month! I'll spare you the story about last August when I opened the bin to a sea of maggots...
Here is the beginning of the piles of yellow bags for plastic for last month. They also only pick up plastic once a month. SO we have to pile the bags in our "abfalle raum," which is located in the back of our garage. It also means that we have to clean out all of our plastic containers.. yogurt, pudding, meat, etc. Otherwise all the little neighborhood rodents and pests will be settling in. And the guys that pick this stuff up do it by hand - and they INSPECT it. So if they see anything that doesn't belong (they supply you with a book that categorizes everything when you move in) they just don't take it! Then you get to dig through it, and sit on it for another month!!! No wonder we have a trash room!
Although, it is large enough to house all of our bikes, and other yard stuff, so there's another reason to make sure it stays clean!
Here's the bikes.
There are also some things which don't fit into ANY of the trash categories... like paint cans, and other odd items involving chemicals, and large or unwieldy bulk. For these items we get SPECIAL designated dates, twice a year, which we get to save these items for (somewhere) and then load them up in the car, and then drive them over ourselves to the festplatz for drop off.
Below are our 3 trash bins. Brown is for bio. It gets picked up every two weeks. And God forbid you miss a trash day - because then all that nasty stuff has to sit there for a month! I'll spare you the story about last August when I opened the bin to a sea of maggots...
The black bin is rest - diapers, bathroom trash, etc. Everything "else" basically. This also gets picked up every two weeks. And let me tell you - when they only come every two weeks, it is MUCH harder to remember just when exactly they come - not to mention that not everything gets picked up at the same time! I have every trash pick up written on my calendar so that I don't forget! There's simply no way to do it in your head.
The big green bin is for paper. It gets picked up once a month. Yes. Once a month. You'd think with all the taxes we pay over here they could do better than that - but I guess all that money goes to pay for the year that men are allowed to take off for maternity leave - but that's another story...
Here is the beginning of the piles of yellow bags for plastic for last month. They also only pick up plastic once a month. SO we have to pile the bags in our "abfalle raum," which is located in the back of our garage. It also means that we have to clean out all of our plastic containers.. yogurt, pudding, meat, etc. Otherwise all the little neighborhood rodents and pests will be settling in. And the guys that pick this stuff up do it by hand - and they INSPECT it. So if they see anything that doesn't belong (they supply you with a book that categorizes everything when you move in) they just don't take it! Then you get to dig through it, and sit on it for another month!!! No wonder we have a trash room!
Although, it is large enough to house all of our bikes, and other yard stuff, so there's another reason to make sure it stays clean!
Here's the bikes.
There are also some things which don't fit into ANY of the trash categories... like paint cans, and other odd items involving chemicals, and large or unwieldy bulk. For these items we get SPECIAL designated dates, twice a year, which we get to save these items for (somewhere) and then load them up in the car, and then drive them over ourselves to the festplatz for drop off.
So isn't that just as EFFICIENT as you could imagine? What a waste of time. I'm sorry. I love this world and our environment, but there has got to be a better way.
1 comment:
How utterly riduculous!!!
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