The houses in Oberursel currently have three rubbish bins:
- Blue for paper
- Yellow for packaging (“Grüner Punkt”) – although some houses do not have a bin and just put out the sacks
- Green or black for everything else (“Restmüll)
Additionally there are glass collection containers and a recycling depot where electrical goods (“Elektroschrott”) and building materials (“Bauschutt”) get taken to. And then of course there is the special Christmas Tree collection each January.
Soon another collection will be added to the list as the “Biotonne” is introduced for things like food leftovers, fruit peel, dead flowers and other garden waste.
But just how do you introduce a new rubbish collection to a town like Oberursel?
This is exactly the problem currently faced by the refuse collectors (BSO) because a new version of a law called the “Kreislaufwirtschaftsgesetz” says that this type of rubbish is to be collected separately from 2015 onwards. However it is up to the towns themselves to decide exactly how to do this and whether, for example, they will insist on a “Biotonne” or allow people with gardens to have their own compost heap.
Oberursel is not going to wait for the 2015 deadline, but is intending to introduce the new system in 2014. To do this they are analysing the waste at the moment to work out how much of the “Restmüll” is actually “Biömüll”.
That doesn’t mean that they are just taking a look inside the rubbish bags. A team from an organisation called the “Witzenhausen-Institut” led by refuse specialist Jörg Siepenkothen is taking samples based on where the area where the bags came from and sorting the rubbish before weighing it. To be precise they are taking 7 cubic metres each from
Area 1: high-rise buildings
Area 2: low-rise modern rows of houses
Area 3: village-type streets
although they do stress that they do not know exactly which building the bags come from so as to keep the study anonymous.
The bags are first emptied into a rotating drum with holes in it to sort out everything smaller than 4cm. What is left over after that is sorted into one of 23 categories such as glass, plastic, magnetic and non-magnetic metals, consumer electrics etc.
And yes – none of those categories listed should have been in there in the first place!
In fact, a good percentage of what actually came out of the “Restmüll” bins belonged somewhere else. Remove the “Biomüll” and the question may well be how much is actually left? Assuming that people put the rubbish in the right bin in future.
After the rubbish was been sorted, each category is weighed. The whole process will be repeated in the winter as well and based on the results a recommendation will be made on how big the rubbish bins should to be and how often they will need to be emptied.
A very interesting fact – and incentive for people to sort their rubbish correctly – is that to dispose of a tonne of “Biomüll” it only costs around a fifth of what it costs to deal with the “Restmüll”. As such it is possible that the residents will not see a change in their refuse charges when the new rubbish bin is introduced.
I wonder what colour it will be?
Some tips for waste disposal
Food leftovers belong in the “Biotonne” if you have one, and the “Restmülltonne” if you don’t. They should be wrapped in newspaper before putting them in the bin. Even bones can be put into the “Biotonne”.
Glass bottles and jars do not belong in the “Restmüll”, it should be taken to a glass recycling point (unless you are in a town that actually has a glass collection).
Small electrical goods do not belong in househould waste and should be taken to the local collection point for recycling.
Batteries do not belong in household waste and should be taken to a recycling point. These are often located in shops and supermarkets where batteries are sold.
Advent crowns need to be taken apart as they are a mixture of “Biomüll” (the pine leaves, twigs, etc.), “Restmüll” (the candles) and packaging (any plastic pieces holding it together).
About Graham Tappenden
