Mountains of wrapping paper, cardboard boxes and plastic waste, the bio-bucket full of leftover food and loads of empty bottles – that’s the rest of the party. This is what the waste balance looks like in many families after the holidays. However, anyone who has already visited a waste collection point in Unterhaching a few days before Christmas Eve will have asked themselves: Is Christmas over? The packaging materials piled up to the ceiling and on the floor, the blue bins for paper and yellow containers for plastic groaned under the load, sometimes they disappeared completely under the piles of rubbish. City hall spokesman Simon Hötzl admits: “This is where the pandemic is noticeable. People have ordered a lot online and disposed of the packaging waste before Christmas.”
Unterhaching has therefore increased the cycle for removal from the recycling house. In order to cope with the amounts around Christmas and New Year’s Eve, the bins are already being emptied every day, because mountains of rubbish are piling up this week as well. The frequency should be changed from four to all working days per week from January 1st anyway. Because overall the amount of waste in the community has increased, after all, Unterhaching has grown. “The main problem with packaging is that many people don’t shred it. The bins fill up quickly,” says Hötzl. Often only the front barrels are used, which then quickly overflow. However, the waste management sector is also feeling the effects of the corona pandemic. Thomas Farkas, waste coordinator in the district of Munich, writes in the 2020 annual report of an increase in waste glass of up to 20 percent, depending on the region and month, while the Federal Association of the German Waste Management, Water and Raw Materials Management (BDE) reports an increase in plastic and other lightweight packaging of up to six percent.
Overcrowded recycling house on St.-Alto-Straße in Unterhaching.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
The district office confirms this shortly before the end of 2021, but is still cautious in interpreting the numbers. In absolute terms, there was an increase in waste, especially in the case of recyclable materials, bulky waste and old glass. This becomes particularly problematic with residual waste. This is “thermally treated”, i.e. incinerated, and not recycled. In terms of resource conservation, the goal must be to urgently reduce this number. The extent to which the increase in the amount of waste from 2019 to 2020 is due to the corona pandemic cannot be clearly determined at the current time. “If necessary, a comparison with the figures from 2021, which are expected to be available in spring 2022, then provides more detailed information,” said the authority.
Every inhabitant of the district has an average of 25 kilos of plastic per year
In 2020, a total of 166,167 tons of waste accumulated in the district, about 6,000 tons more than in the previous year. That was an average of 143.62 kilos per inhabitant in this first Corona year. Waste paper came together around 27,000 tons, 77 tons from each, roughly the same amount of organic waste. Used glass added up to more than 11,000 tons, 32 kilos per resident of the district, plastic waste to almost 9,000 tonnes and thus 25 kilos per resident. Unterhaching is around the district average, a little higher for glass and paper, a little lower for packaging and organic waste. The municipality of Grünwald is striking in the statistics of the district, topping the hit list for almost all types of waste except organic waste.
The fact that a lot of garbage is generated in December because of Christmas can at least be seen in the Unterhaching example for paper garbage from the statistics. December 2020 was the only month in which the volume exceeded the 200-ton mark. Household waste, on the other hand, (270 tons) did not accumulate more than in some summer months. The managing director of the Zweckverband München Südost based in Ottobrunn, Georg Wagner, can confirm this for the municipalities in his area: January and December are not necessarily the “most littering months” of the year, neither for residual waste nor for organic waste.
A lot of electronic waste is generated, especially at Christmas, because people give each other new technical devices.
(Photo: Sebastian Gabriel)
But on Christmas and New Year’s Eve, electrical appliances and waste glass ended up in the trash. “Electronic waste starts with the blinking Christmas card and electronic devices are often given away for Christmas,” he said. Nevertheless, the amounts collected after electronic scrap are not special “Christmas rubbish”. Many people probably waited until the next bulky waste date to dispose of their large devices and cell phones would often be collected in drawers for years. The front runners in January 2020 were around 131 tons of waste glass and waste paper, which the association attributes to Christmas and New Year’s Eve. However, special shifts for employees in waste disposal are not necessary.
According to Wagner, it becomes problematic if it is not properly separated. When light bulbs, flat glass, lead glass, ceramics, earthenware and porcelain end up in the waste glass collection, this leads to so-called “inclusions” in the glass melt and significantly reduces the quality of the new glass. “Such so-called incorrect throws make high-quality recycling more difficult and place high demands on sorting systems or manual sorting,” warns Wagner. Batteries and rechargeable batteries are also a particular problem, as they appear as contaminated waste in almost all waste fractions. Jennifer Elwin from the Unterhaching administration can also report frequent mistakes. There is a lot of plastic in organic bins, “even the compostable organic bags have no place in them,” she said. In 2022, the organic bins would therefore get a sticker with the words “No plastic”. It is well known that this belongs in the yellow bin, but there you will always find clothing that has no place there. Paper is often disposed of in plastic bags. Greasy cardboard, for example from pizza packaging or coated wrapping paper, also causes problems. Too many recyclables still end up in the residual waste bin.
Put the fir tree away: At the recycling center in Ottobrunn, the Christmas trees end up in the garden waste container.
(Photo: Claus Schunk)
Many things can be used again. Biodiesel can be obtained from used edible fat, for example from New Year’s Eve fondue. To do this, it just needs to be cleaned and sterilized. Oils and fats can be brought to the recycling center in used packaging from the Zweckverband Südost, this also applies to leftovers from Christmas candles made of wax. You can compost Christmas trees yourself, give them to the garden waste collection or also bring them to the recycling center. In Unterhaching, the community collects the disused fir trees. Last year there were 1,549 trees, unfortunately also often those with remains of the Christmas tree decorations, as Jennifer Elwin discovered.
“We should all generate less waste, because in the long run it will probably not be enough just to separate waste well,” warns Wagner. Unterhaching is also trying to motivate citizens to better separate waste, especially to avoid waste, with the “Haching packt’s o (hne)” campaign, and has distributed a small disposal guide to all households, which, according to the town hall, is very popular. This includes some vouchers, for example for an organic waste container and a vegetable bag, which are intended to provide an incentive to act in a climate-friendly manner.