m-cause

Figuring out how to manage your trash properly is one of the more daunting things for a foreigner to grasp when they start living in Germany.  As an American accustomed to recycling some basic items (cans, paper, etc.) I was pretty overwhelmed by “full throttle” recycling programs in Germany when I first arrived in the late 90s.  Now, after living in Bavaria (Rosenheim & Augsburg),  Baden-Württemberg (Stuttgart) and Geneva, Switzerland, I almost have a masters degree in sorting & recycling.

Learning from Alcoholics: I studied in Stuttgart for a couple of years and lived in the German version of “low income” housing during my time there.  My high rise apartment building was populated by your average low income demographic (students, unemployed, etc.).  The neighbor from the floor below me was very friendly, and on the first day I arrived she stopped by to warmly greet me.  As she started to speak, I began to notice the dank smell of alcohol on her breath and her slightly slurred speech (though it was early in the day).  I also noticed a large, yellow roll of sacks in her left hand.  As we closed our conversation, she looked very sternly at me and asked “do you recycle?”.  She then proceeded to give me a very detailed class on the German “gelbe (yellow) sack” program as she handed me the roll of sacks in her left hand.  Wow, I thought…she could barely stand up straight, but she had memorized the entire recycling chart and could even articulate detailed elements of the program.  Impressive…here is a great article detailing the type of recycling programs you often see in German states.

The German Trash “Wunder”: Germany’s excellence in trash collecting & waste management even made the US national news headlines a few months ago when Naples, Italy experienced a trash crisis.  As mountains of garbage spilled into the streets threatening to cause a major health crisis, Germany came to the rescue.  Indeed, Germany (birthplace of the Green Party) leads the world in reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills (Switzerland & Scandinavia aren’t far behind).  After decades of waste reduction efforts from government, industry & ordinary citizens, Germany has managed to almost completely eliminate the need to dispose of trash in landfills.

Bad Landfills: If we reduce landfill usage and dependence, we can significantly reduce greenhouse gases.  According to a report from the Sierra Club “significantly decreasing waste disposed in landfills and incinerators will reduce greenhouse gas emissions the equivalent to closing 21% of U.S. coal-fired power plants. This is comparable to leading climate protection proposals such as improving national vehicle fuel efficiency. So, by preventing waste and expanding reuse, recycling, and composting we can get on track with moving the world in the direction of greater climate stability.    

German Schools Say ‘Ja’ to Recycling.  A few decades back, Germany was not a big recycling leader.   But in the 80s, as landfill space began to decline and “trash mountains” started to become highly visible throughout the country–pretty easy in a country of 82 Million people no bigger than Texas–the media began reporting on a series of scandals about the damage caused by landfills.  In parallel, people in Germany became frightened by mega-environmental disasters in countries just to the east (e.g. Chernobyl in the Ukraine) Almost overnight Germany experienced an environmental awakening and the government began to encourage education programs highlighting the benefits of recycling at an early age.  Nowadays, German schools are very serious about teaching kids (see this article) about recycling, reuse and reduction.  Government education programs and incentives started to build personal responsibility & accountability across the entire range of the population over time…now, Germany is light years ahead of other European countries and the rest of the world with its recycling programs, attitudes and policies.

It’s Almost Religious:  Many Germans seem to have an almost religious zeal when it comes to recycling.   As elementary school principal Thomas Lutz explains ‘‘In Germany, it’s a sin if you throw something away that might [otherwise] be recycled” (see German Schools Say Ja article above).  This type of language from ordinary citizens indicates that many Germans have adopted Al Gore’s call for people to view the prevention of climate change as a moral and spiritual challenge.  In Germany, Umweltsünden (Environmental Sins) are so rare that when a person commits one it often makes the local news–which is pretty funny.  I am sure I made several small sins during my first years in the country (though none big enough to hit the press).

Yes We Can:  Examples from countries like Germany are very encouraging for heavy landfill users like the USA.  As this excellent blog post by Cynthia Linton points out, with just 5% of the world’s population, the USA is using up 30% of the world’s resources, producing 30% of the waste and emitting a big part of the planet’s greenhouse gases…Americans waste nearly 170 million tons of reusable garbage per year.   What will happen when countries like China & India begin to catch up with us in terms of consumption?  Either we will need to build a few spaceships ala Wall-E to take us off of this planet or we will need to reduce, recycle & reuse like our Western European friends.

Cause related groups around landfill reduction like stop the landfill in Chicago are springing up in the US.  This type of bottom-up movement (seeking prevent a landfill from destroying an area of Chicago) is similar to what Germany experienced in the 1980s and shows that citizens are actively working against excess trash.  Also, more than 2 dozen American cities or states have a zero waste goal (by 2040).  Sadly, however, we are simply decades away from achieving anything close to what Germany has achieved already.  Even the Brits admit that they are well behind Germany in this area (see this article).

In closing, here are a few more policy tips from Cynthia’s blog post that we should all be in favor of regarding landfill reduction:
• Implement federal, state and municipal zero waste targets.
• Levy a per-ton surcharge for taking waste to incinerators or landfills, as many European countries do.
• End “renewable energy” subsidies for landfills and incinerators.
• Charge by volume and weight for trash collection.
• Regulate paper packaging and junk mail and significantly increase paper recycling.