Overview
- Local authorities and waste operators marked the Tag der Biotonne on Tuesday by reissuing clear lists of what may go into the brown bin and why proper sorting matters for resource recovery.
- Acceptable items include food scraps, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, kitchen paper, eggshells, and garden waste such as grass clippings and hedge trimmings; mineral cat litter, diapers and ash are not allowed.
- Cities including Bayreuth and Bamberg and the Berliner Stadtreinigung have forbidden compostable or bioplastic collection bags because they look like conventional plastic and break down too slowly, so plants pre-sort and remove them as contaminants.
- Operators use mechanical and manual pre-sorting and a multi-week thermophilic composting process to make weed-free, BGK-certified 'Pflanzenkraft-Kompost,' and municipal rules let services refuse to empty bins that are heavily contaminated.
- The regional compost is sold to farms and gardeners as a peat substitute that improves soil water retention and can lower CO2 from peat extraction, but its quality depends on households keeping plastics and other non-organics out of the Biotonne.