Garbage vs. Recycling

Our Samuel is fascinated by the garbage and recycling trucks. He always has been and I hope he keeps enjoying this boyhood fascination for some time. Between the garbage and recycling trucks in our neighborhood it seems like they visit our neighborhood frequently.

I took this video clip of Samuel admiring the garbage men at work back in October. He is looking out our dining room window... which he does every Thursday when they come to take our garbage and recycling away.

I have found that Germans have somewhat of a passion for recycling. We have lots of different bins and it has taken some time to get a system down for all the sorting. We have 4 main categories:

1. Plastics & aluminum

2. Cardboard & Paper

3. Compost (food waste)

4. Rubbish

I have learned to truly miss having a garbage disposal in my kitchen sink. If you have one in your kitchen, as most Americans probably do in this day and age... do me a favor, and please don't take this convenience for granted. Treasure it! Praise it!

Enjoy it! (ahhhh... sometimes it's the simple things I miss). Some day I too shall return to life with a garbage disposal and I will be forever grateful to whoever invented that amazing contraption.

Anyway, the recycling is somewhat awesome and somewhat crazy. As a family of five with two still in diapers/pullups, we can accumulate our fair share of waste. We live on the second floor. Trips to the dumpsters seem to be made all too frequent.

Oh, and in addition to the top four categories, we also have a couple more centralized recycling areas just a short walk away... one for old batteries and one for glass. Generally, we do not generate a lot of waste in those areas. Glass beer bottles and glass soda (pop) bottles are recycled by deposit. As in, you return your bottle for a small amount of money for returning those bottles. Other glass is broken down into three categories: clear glass, colored glass and brown glass.

Does this all sound confusing or what? When we first arrived we received a chart that breaks it all down for us so we know what is supposed to go where. It's posted on our fridge and may be until the day we move! But we are getting more used to the idea of what goes where.

After living here for three years, I bet we will become accustomed to all the recycling and be amazed at all the waste many Americans still create. And of course, we will appreciate having a garbage disposal again.