Oh the places your trash goes

Multiple Reality Disorder

Repost from allbillnobull.net. Tweeting @mediabard

Bill Glucroft

Location: Berlin, Germany
Birthday: December 31

Bio: Writer, photographer and certified English teacher

MY RECENT POSTS

CORRECTED: Comparative Hypsterism: Required for incoming freshmen at all liberal arts schools
May 08, 2012 07:34AM
Time and technology, and living in-between
April 22, 2012 11:51AM
English mit Bill: Learning 2.0 meets Web 2.0
March 22, 2012 07:15PM
An unscientific, yet personal iPad review
March 22, 2012 05:43PM
Pictures of the day: Improv!
March 19, 2012 12:07PM

MY RECENT COMMENTS

“Thanks for all the comments! Glad I'm not the only nerd interested in how systems…”
November 29, 2011 01:34PM
“sure "they" can. they can do whatever they please.”
December 05, 2010 11:26AM

Bill Glucroft's Links

Places you should visit: Small Notes on a Big Trip; Multiple Reality Disorder

« Back to Posts

Editor’s Pick

NOVEMBER 26, 2011 12:09PM

Rate: 4 Flag

What is the Berlin Wall doing today?

Sorting Berlin's trash

What I love most about being an English teacher to adults is the chance to peer inside the many jobs and companies that make up an economy. In this case, the only functional economy, it seems, left on earth: Germany's. It's fascinating to see first-hand the thousands of ways a person can earn a living, and how they all add up to fill the big picture.

Every day I show up to one company or another and get to learn what it does, and what different people in that organization do. Occasionally I get to do something even cooler. That is, see for myself just how a modern society continues to function every day without falling into complete chaos, a fact that defies logic given the seven billion people who now inhabit the planet.

On Friday, I got to tour the Alba sorting facility, a relatively new and sprawling complex responsible for sorting the daily paper and packaging refuse of some four million people in Berlin, the area and a couple nearby regions.

Awesome, right?

Germany, it likely doesn't surprise you, has some of the highest recycling standards in Europe (which probably also means the world). When I first came here, it was hard to get my head around the fact that pretty much everything I called "trash" in the U.S. is recycled here. Though the target of mockery and cause for confusion, the system is pretty simple: blue is for paper; yellow is for packaging (plastic and metal); brown is for bio (that's right, food and other organic material gets composted on a nationwide scale); a new orange box takes heavier items like kitchen appliances; and glass is either collected on the street (itself sub-divided into brown, green and clear/white) or brought back to the store, along with plastic bottles, for a handsome deposit return (similar to what some U.S. states have, only far more comprehensive).

There is a gray or black bin for actual trash -- items that don't fall into the above-mentioned categories. But since these are so broad, there is, or should be, very little left over. That's my experience, anyway.

Why go through the effort? Sure it takes stress off the environment. It also can earn you bags of cash. Waste management is big business, and the German market is fiercely competitive, involving all kinds of operators both public and private. Once sorted and stacked, the valuable materials retrieved from our every day garbage is sold by the ton, to re-enter the manufacture stream of products we will later buy, use and throw out again.

Your tags:

TIP:

Enter the amount, and click "Tip" to submit!

Comments

Post a comment

I too am fascinated by the logistics of modern society. Thanks for the journey. As for potential chaos, we're on the road to that!

cheshyre grin

November 29, 2011 09:45 AM

I recently moved to NC from MI. MI has one of the highest returns of bottles and cans because they pay handsomely and along the lakeshore and forested areas there is little littering because people are proud of their environment. Here in NC there is nothing and I still can't get used to throwing out bottles and cans, etc. And so much trash along roadways it boggles my mind.

What many people don't understand about Germany's flourishing economy is that it has stayed that way because of strict unions and government control.

From The Midwest

November 29, 2011 10:57 AM

Yes, the Germans have it right. I lived there from 1990 to 1991 and they were serious about recycling even then.

Erica K

November 29, 2011 11:18 AM

This was fascinating and I hope it's a vision for what the future will be like in other countries. Here in France, recycling isn't really focused on enough, in my opinion. But we're getting there.

On another note, hello to a fellow adult EFL teacher! I totally know what you mean about getting to learn a lot about different jobs and workplaces. It's one of the perks of our job.

Thanks for a really cool post.

Alysa Salzberg

November 29, 2011 01:28 PM

Thanks for all the comments! Glad I'm not the only nerd interested in how systems work :) Be sure to check out the Multiple Reality Disorder blog directly at allbillnobull.net. And/or follow me on twitter @mediabard. (Und wenn ihr Deutsch spricht, @hinundzuruck)

Happy reading.