Recycling is an important topic, thus it's perfect for Jenny's Alphabe-Thursday. In Germany, recycling is big. From How To Germany - All About Recycling:
"Recycling is Germany's contribution to the global battle for the environment, and the country has been very successful in its fight against growing garbage heaps. But the whole subject of recycling can be a daunting issue for any newcomer to the country."
Oh yes, that's so very true... Here in Munich, we have three different kinds of garbage bins right in front of each house:
The brown bin for biological waste (e.g. kitchen waste like coffee powder and filters, fruit and vegetable waste like peels and fruit stones and garden waste like grass clippings and weeds), ...
... the blue bin for paper (e.g. newspapers, cartons and the like), ...
... and finally the gray bin for residual waste (practically that stuff you can't recycle anyway else, so this bin usually ends up being rather empty).
Cans, plastic bottles and boxes, beverage cartons and the like should be brought to recycling bins which you find somewhere in the neighborhood.
For a lot of bottles you have to pay a deposit which you get back when you return the bottles to a store. Other bottles and glass should be recycled. There are different bins for depositing green, brown and clear glass.
That's the stuff I recycled the other day -- two plastic bags (which I re-use for collecting recycling waste) full of cans, plastic bottles, milk cartons and the like.
Those recycling bins are a frequent sight.
There's even one for clothes and shoes.
Ceramics, wood, electrical appliances, an excess of garden waste, old furniture and matresses and stuff like that must be brought to a local recycling depot. Below you see the one nearest to my place.
"No arguing that all this sorting can sound a bit much. [...] Despite the extra effort and diligence required by First World Recycling, it does provide a sense of pride to know that you actually managed to figure out the German recycling system - something for your résumé, no doubt!"
For a more thorough read about recycling be sure to read whole article -- All About Recycling.
Happy Recycling!
I'm trying to do better with recycling. I've been using all my raw food scraps into my compost bin, and doing reusable tote bags, etc. I really shudder to think how much trash we create, though.
ReplyDeleteIt takes so much determination to keep sorting and sorting. I think it would be easier if we took our own containers to the store for almost all the products we buy.
Thanks for a thoughtful link this week.
A+
My former mother-in-law was from Germany and she said that when she moved here to the US, she was shocked that we didn't recycle here! She just separated the garbage as she always had at home but the garbage men explained that they dumped it all together so she didn't need to do that!
ReplyDeleteMost places DO recycle now here, though! I'm glad this is so as it is so wasteful not to!
That is really impressive and very well organized. Here recycling isn't that big, but I know when my parents lived in NJ they were limited as to how much garbage they could put out and recycling became very important in that area. They didn't have local landfills and their trash had to be trucked out of state. I'm afraid we have too much land in Texas, so recycling isn't that extensive in my community although it might be in some others.
ReplyDeleteI try my best at recycling as well. Here we dont have to seperate our glass, plastic, newspaper or cardboard. We just put it all into our own recycling container and the recycling people take it from there. I have tried to get my hubby and kids on board but half the time Im digging out recyclables from the trash Great post
ReplyDeleteI believe strongly in recycling too, and it's a great word! Nice to see it here! In my artwork I use recycled paper to make paper beads and collage {:-Deb
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