Attention: Fraud with waste disposal

If you want to throw away a lot of old furniture or electrical appliances or want to clear out an apartment, you can call a waste disposal company or a clear-out company. Clearers then dispose of these items. They charge money for this. Some clear-out companies are scammers. They often offer their help on the internet. The fake clearers say that they will collect the bulky waste and take it to the right place. Bulky waste is large furniture or electrical appliances that do not fit in the residual waste garbage can. The scammers pretend to dispose of the waste properly and take it to the recycling center. But they dispose of the waste illegally. For example, they throw the waste into the forest, onto a meadow or under a bridge.

The law says that anyone who disposes of their waste illegally will be fined. This also applies if someone else takes the garbage away. It is important to collect evidence of who disposed of the waste. Then you don't have to pay a fine.

A man from Offenbach had this problem. He received a letter from the city. He had to pay a fine because his garbage had been disposed of illegally. But he was able to prove that he had been cheated. He showed the city the messages on his cell phone from the fake garbage collector. The man had also photographed the license plate number of the rubbish collector. That's why he didn't have to pay anything, but the fraudster was fined 2,900 euros.

The city of Offenbach collects bulky waste twice a year free of charge. This means that you don't have to pay a rubbish collector. The city advises: It is better to make an appointment for bulky waste or take the bulky waste to the Wert-Stoff-Hof yourself.

Anyone wishing to register bulky waste can find information at: www.offenbach.de/sperrmuell.

Anyone wishing to report illegally disposed waste can do so by telephone on 069 8065 4747 or on the website www.offenbach.de/maengelmelder.