Our Mountains of Trash

So, how much trash have you produced today? You probably brushed your teeth. At some point, the tube of toothpaste runs out and goes in the trash. For breakfast, you had muesli with milk and a banana. The muesli ingredients and the milk came in packaging. You threw that in the trash, just like the banana peel. Last week, one of your socks had a hole in it, and your mother threw it away. Recently, you got rid of a pair of your shoes, and just before Christmas, you put broken toys in the trash because you wanted something new.

It all adds up. Experts have calculated that Germany produces more rubbish per person than most other countries in the world. In 2023, each of us produced an average of 433 kilograms of household rubbish. That was less than in previous years, but there was actually even more rubbish to add. For example, waste is generated when houses are demolished or things are made in factories. At first glance, it all seems so simple. You take your empty yoghurt pot, sweet wrapper, banana peels, broken toy car and old newspapers to the nearest bin: open the lid, put the rubbish in, close the lid. Eventually, the rubbish collectors come and take it all away. And that solves all the problems, right? No, it doesn’t.

Waste has to be removed, otherwise the Earth would eventually be covered by a thick layer of rubbish.

Waste is anything that is thrown away because it is broken, unusable or no longer needed. Examples include:

• Old televisions, washing machines, radios or broken mobile phones. This is electronic waste.
• Textiles, such as old clothes, laundry, curtains and blankets.
• Paints, varnishes and batteries, which often contain toxic substances.
• Metals, e.g. bicycle parts, locks or cans.
• Broken garden fences, planks, treehouse boards, old rocking horses—in short, anything made of wood.
• Old Bottles and jars
• We class broken sofas, chairs, and carpets as bulky waste.
• Apple and orange peels, spoiled food and leftovers are called organic waste.
• When we go shopping, many things come packaged in plastic bags, film and other plastics. This is called mixed packaging.
• Leaves and other garden waste also add to our mountain of rubbish.
• A single sheet of paper is light. But when you add up all the newspapers, school notebooks, old books, advertising materials and so on, it amounts to quite a lot of paper, cardboard and cartons.
• The largest part of our mountain of rubbish is residual waste. This includes everything that is not sorted or cannot be sorted.

Fortunately, the rubbish heap can shrink again. Most of the things we throw away contain valuable raw materials. These can be separated from the waste and used to make new things. This is called recycling.

It starts with sorting our waste. At home, we have separate bins for food waste, general waste, paper and packaging. They are emptied regularly by the waste collection service. Bottles and jars can be taken to glass recycling containers so they can be made into new glass. Leaves and garden waste are turned into compost that can be used in the garden. Paper and cardboard can be recycled into new paper and cardboard. Metals are especially valuable.

A lot of waste ends up in large incinerators. The heat generated is used to heat homes or produce electricity. Other waste is taken to landfills. There, anything that can still be recycled is sorted out. The rest is compressed and stored beneath large tarpaulins.

Many things we use every day are made of plastics. They are often simply called plastic. Milk, cheese and tomatoes are often sold in plastic packaging at the supermarket. We carry our shopping home in plastic bags. Lego bricks, Playmobil figures, toy cars, air mattresses, toothbrushes and rollerblades are also made of plastic. Even clothes contain plastic.

Plastics are practical. And they’re cheap. They can be soft or hard, transparent or coloured; they’re easy to shape, durable and easy to combine with other materials, such as paper. But because plastic costs so little, it is quickly thrown away. This creates huge mountains of plastic waste.

Oil is needed to make plastic. Oil is a raw material that formed 100 to 150 million years ago and is found underground in various places around the world. So oil is something like an ancient treasure. But there is not an unlimited supply. One day, this treasure will run out.

Some people simply throw their rubbish wherever they are. Cigarette butts, empty bottles, plastic cups, packaging and so on end up in the street. This doesn’t just spoil the environment.

• If there are still food scraps in the rubbish, they attract rats and vermin.

• Waste often contains toxic substances that can harm plants and animals.

• Animals mistake litter for food. Small and large pieces end up in their stomachs and cannot be digested.

• Above all, waste gets washed into streams and rivers and eventually ends up in the sea. Plastics break down very slowly there. Fish and other marine animals become entangled in them or swallow pieces as food. Their stomachs become blocked and they starve, or tiny microplastic particles enter their bodies. Some are caught by fishermen, so microplastics also end up in people’s food.

So, never just throw your rubbish away! Never!