Trash!

I never thought that I would be preparing to write an entire post about trash, but here I am. And when I say “trash,”  I mean the refuse, stinky, garbage kind not the fun, guilty pleasure television programming or smutty novel kind. 

Trash is a big deal in Germany and it’s taken me every bit of the last month or so to really absorb this new attitude.  Germany takes recycling and their refuse very seriously.  In fact, as I was learning about all of this, I was really taken with the thought that I was a lazy American.  I’ve “recycled” before.  I like the environment and I want to do good things for the Earth, right?  Of course, I do.  But, to be perfectly honest, my willingness to do good was inversely proportionate to how much work I had to do to accomplish that.  So, I did good things for the world if it was easy.  If not, my reluctance to inconvenience myself overruled my desire to be Earth-Friendly. 

First and foremost,  the availability of recycling is drastically different here.  In the US, I’ve lived in some areas that don’t recycle recently.  These areas does not provide door-to-door recycle service. There was probably a recycling center somewhere within a 30 minute drive, but that was too much effort.  Some areas recycled only paper, some paper and plastics 1/2, aluminum and glass was hit or miss.  Some areas required that you separate everything, some areas provided bit bins for single-stream recycling.  I preferred the big single stream bins where drop my recycling in the bin and forget about it.  No work, fuss or though required beyond remembering to put it out to the curb. 

That does not cut it here in Germany.  Recycling is compulsory according to national law.  Really, you are REQUIRED to recycle and yes, there will be people checking.  (It’s a little creepy, right?  Someone inspecting your trash?)  If the inspector finds that more than 10 percent of your trash is recyclables, you will face some hefty fines. Further, if more than 10 percent of your recyclables are sorted incorrectly, you will be fined. Americans living on the economy are subject to these laws. (Though, not on post apparently. More on that later!) 

I now have five trashcans in my kitchen.  It’s really been an adjustment since even my recent American kitchens wouldn’t have been large enough for five trashcans, much less our tiny [efficient] German kitchen!  I mentioned that I’ve been struck many times by how lazy I am and this was the first demonstration. My trash bins are literally six feet outside my front door, but that was too far to walk whenever I had a piece of paper of plastic to sort. We decided to relocate our cleaning supplies and cleared out under our sink for trash bins.  After lots of measuring, shuffling and shoving, we fit all the bins underneath.  Here’s the break down:

1. Paper:  Pretty straight forward. If it’s clean, plain paper or cardboard…this is where it belongs. Anything soiled or contaminated (like a pizza box or a used napkin) can’t go here. We have a big wheeled bin outside to for paper and it is picked up once a month.

2. Plastics:  All plastics go in here. Really, ALL plastics.  Plastic bottles, plastic food packages, plastic baggies, grocery sacks, bubble wrap, plastic packaging from kids toys, plastic plates, cups, and the like.  Also included in this category are the “mixed” materials – aluminum cans, metal lids, foil, chip bags, etc.  Basically, if it feels plastic-y or metallic, it goes here. Some towns will separate this even further, but we're lucky that our town will take it all and do the pick-ups. We are issued giant yellow bags to bundle the plastics up and they are picked up once a month.  I did not realize how much plastic I threw away.  Those yellow bags really pile up in our garage during the month since we amass two or three each week.  Plastic pick-up day is very obvious around town, because residents, businesses and restaurants all create HUGE heaps of yellow bags at the curb that morning.  I suspect that in the US, this wouldn’t work because we wouldn’t want to stockpile a dozen yellow bags in our garages for a month and would demand more frequent pick-ups.  In Germany, however, they have simply reduced the amount of plastic they use. (Imagine that!)  They are very particular about how their items are packaged.  Fruits and meats are packaged cleanly but with much less plastic and Styrofoam that we’re used to.  Stores do not offer bags for purchases; you must bring your own.  Plastic bottles are not common in German stores and individual serving beverages and snacks are not common.  Glass is used instead.

3. Glass:  All glass, colored or clear, is recycled.  In fact, you pay a hefty pfand (a deposit) on glass bottles when you purchase bottled beverages like beer, wine or soda.  Glass is the only thing not picked up at home, but I suspect it’s a matter of practicality – since most glass has the pfand, it generally gets returned to the store it was purchased at for a refund.  What little bit is left over is just easier to collect it in one location in each town.

4. Compost:   Yes, food scraps are considered recyclable.  We were issued a little, green covered bin and special biodegradable bags to collect all food scraps. Every Friday, the bins and bags go out to the curb for pick up. Generally, we only use one bag per week, unless I have some seriously stinky fish or something in there and tie it up early.  I don’t know the details of where the composting is done and what they do with it, but I’m sure they make good use of it. (Side Note: Since food scraps are collected, guess what is NOT in my kitchen sink?  A garbage disposal! That’s taken some getting used to since we scrape the plates in the sink out of habit.)

5. Refuse:  This is anything that isn’t covered in the above category…soiled paper, used napkins, used paper plates, paper food containers that aren’t “clean”, used tissues, broken toys that aren’t recyclable, and diapers.  When we finally got the hang of the sorting process, we were really shocked how little refuse we generated.  I use one 13 gallon trash bag per week and even then it’s only about half full.  I was also struck by the realization that our reused consisted primarily of  used paper towels and diapers.  I never realized how much waste I generated by using paper towels, but it really adds up when you consider all the quick hand drying, counter wipes, sticky hands and messy faces I deal with each day.  We are working on reducing this and switching to using washcloths, hand towels and cleaning rags.  Diapers are the other biggest “offender” in my refuse bag. I’d love to say that I was motivated to switch to cloth diapers, but I’m not.  I’m on my last baby and we’re only got a year of diapering left.  I’m not switching.  

I hope that these habits stick with me when we head back to the states...I love how much we can reduce the refuse we produce.  However, I can't wait to have a garbage disposal again.  That compost bin is yucky and emptying it and sanitizing the darn thing has become my LEAST favorite chore.