New containers for old lettuce - bins for organic waste distributed at the weekly market

As part of the new campaign with the slogan "The future is in the bin", which is being used in Offenbach to promote better use of the organic waste garbage can, they also handed out practical containers in which leftover food and potato peelings can be collected in the kitchen. A total of around 3000 moisture-resistant paper bags for organic waste and a flyer in 14 languages providing information on the subject were also handed out - so that banana and eggshells as well as the outer leaves of cauliflower from shopping at the weekly market, for example, can be disposed of correctly.

There were also a pleasing number of young Offenbach residents who were interested in the topic. Some of them were already familiar with the organic waste garbage can rap created especially for the campaign by Offenbach artist Tao, which has now achieved over 10,000 clicks on YouTube.

"I would like to separate my organic waste, but we don't have a garbage can for it in our apartment building," some people regretted. But this is only partly true: every property in Offenbach was provided with such a garbage can when the organic waste garbage can was introduced in April 2014, for which a fee must also be paid. However, 5000 of these bins are not used for a variety of reasons, or are not made available to tenants along with the other garbage cans.

But there was also the opposite case: homeowners gave the Stadtservice stand team feedback that their tenants were ignoring the organic waste garbage can or filling it incorrectly. Mailing campaigns have been prepared for both sides and will be implemented in the near future. Comprehensive information material will be used to persuade landlords, property managers and janitors not only to make the organic waste garbage can available, but also to inform their tenants and residents about how to fill it correctly. If the organic waste garbage can is well utilized, larger building communities in particular can order a smaller residual waste garbage can and thus save money on charges.

Many Offenbach customers at the weekly market identified themselves as convinced waste separators at the information stand, but still had detailed questions about what belongs in the organic waste garbage can. Or they were annoyed by larvae that peek over the edge of the garbage can in summer. Gabriele Siegfart, waste consultant at Stadtservice, Oliver Gaksch from Quality Assurance and the two trainees Kirina Piesoldt and Juliano Janssen gave the tip of spraying vinegar water on the rim and lid. The acid keeps flies away and also prevents them from breeding in the garbage can. To combat the smell of food waste and puddles at the bottom of the garbage can, the team recommended that visitors to the stand wrap their waste thickly in newspaper and ideally also use a paper bag specially designed for organic waste.

When talking to the Stadtservice team, many people showed interest in the further development of their organic waste: biogas is produced from it in a bio-digestion plant, from which electricity is generated. The rest is used as fertilizer. However, the plastic bags advertised as compostable, which are commercially available for organic waste, may not be used in Offenbach, the team at the stand repeatedly explained in response to questions: in the fermentation plant, the moldy edges of bread and rotten fruit decompose faster than the bags, which only degrade very slowly.