Household Waste

Waste fractions

The waste from households includes many types of waste that can be recycled. The separate collection system used in Germany allows for the majority of waste to be recycled.

The waste delivered to recycling facilities (e.g. garden waste) and separated in the yellow (light packaging), brown (biodegradables) , blue (paper and cardboard) bins as well as in glass containers make up for more than 50% of the total volume of household waste.

Waste disposal

The remaining portions of household waste still could potentially be utilised, and the task is to find the best possible way of disposing of this waste. Generally the waste could be even further separated, then collected correspondingly. However, the ecological and environmental sense of this measure is limited. The main influencing factors here are

• the structure of the community and its influence on the collection quota or the quota of waste that has been falsely separated
• the proximity to the sorting and recycling facilities in connection with the producible quality of derived secondary products and their marketability
• the efficiency of local incinerators

A fundamental examination on the pros and cons of separated or in part general collection of recyclable resources with residue waste was conducted by IFEU together with INFA Ahlen. The disposal systems of common collection of light packaging with residue waste (GiG) and a recycling bin for light packaging, paper and cardboard and metal in comparison to the status quo of separate collection were examined and evaluated (see Waste Collection Systems).

The answer to the question of the optimal disposal routes for household waste collected via the grey bin requires comprehensive knowledge of the relevant influencing factors. Beside the points mentioned above, this includes knowledge of what is contained in the waste and technical know-how of disposal facilities. In view of mid-term developments and a guarantee for safe disposal, expert knowledge in the field of waste volume forecasts is needed, coupled with estimates of required or available capacities, which also include cooperation possibilities and alternative routes to classical waste management in a broader sense.