Waste Disposal

I live in Saarland!

Germany is famous for its bread, the traffic light system, and waste separation and disposal. The Organisation for Waste Disposal (Zentraler Entsorgungsverband Saar (ZKE)) will take care of your separated waste as long as you put your waste correctly in the dedicated containers. You, therefore, have to separate your waste into:

• Paper, Paperboard, Newspapers... (Papiertonne, also known as Altpapier) (Blue container)
• Biodegradable waste (Biomüll) (Green container)
• Plastic waste (Gelbe Tonne) (Yellow container)
• Residual waste (Restmüll) (Gray container)

For your glass waste (including the glass bottles) without deposit (Pfand) you might or might not have a container in front of your flat. In that case, you might need to dispose your glass waste in the closest public container available.

ⓘ Keep in mind that you are not allowed to throw away your glass waste before 7:00 and after 20:00 (and also on bank holidays) as it can be loud and might disturb the residents nearby!

ⓘ Be careful
Please note that you can NOT dispose your waste by throwing it into the toilet or sink.

You will find further information here once you have entered your postal adress. (Unfortunately, the information provided is not available in English.)

However, if you want to take a look at the dates when the waste is picked up (so you can know when the container is going to be more "empty") or to have a general idea, you can click the link above and follow the steps here:

1. You can choose the first letter of the name of your street from Anfangsbuchstabe Straße.
2. Then choose the name of your street (Straße).
3. Afterwards, you can write your house number (Hausnummer).
4. Click on "weiter" to see the dates when the chosen waste is picked up.

I live in Hannover!

In Hannover, some of the waste is still put out on the street (though since 2017 the region is trying to also transition to big trash bins). The similar rules also apply:

• Paper, Paperboard, Newspapers... (Blauer Sack) Blue bags
• Biodegradable and residual waste (Brown container)
• Plastic waste (Gelber Sack) (Yellow bag)

The blue and yellow bags are issued in shops and at recycling centres. And depending on where you live, you take the trash out the night before for "Zweckverband Abfallwirtschaft Region Hannover" to collect.
More information in English, you can find here.