10 years of organic waste: stickers for incorrectly filled garbage cans
08.07.2024 – Moldy bread scraps, wilted salad leaves and old, smelly food waste have had a destination in Offenbach for ten years: the brown organic waste garbage can was first made available to households by Stadtwerke Offenbach's Stadtservice in spring 2014.
Martin Wilhelm, City Treasurer and responsible department headAlthough the organic waste garbage can is well stocked by many citizens, the quantities collected unfortunately fall well short of expectations overall. In purely mathematical terms, 85 kilos of organic waste per capita per year could ideally be collected in Offenbach. However, according to the waste volume balance of RMA (Rhein-Main-Abfall GmbH), the current figure is only around 31 kilos per capita.
In addition, the refuse collectors are increasingly noticing that the bins for organic waste are being incorrectly filled with non-fermentable waste. For this reason, the quality of the organic waste bin contents will be checked in the near future. If there is too much residual waste, plastic or other incorrect contents, the garbage cans will be given a tag indicating that they have been filled incorrectly, as well as a sticker. The sticker uses pictograms to explain what organic waste is. This informs users that there were substances in the garbage can that do not belong in the organic waste. At the same time, users are asked to pay attention to the correct contents in future.
Biowaste Ordinance obliges waste management companies and recycling plants to pay attention to quality
The inspection is not an Offenbach sensitivities, but a preparation for a federal law that will come into force on May 1, 2025. "If the biowaste has not already been collected with the required purity, foreign substances must be removed before treatment (pasteurization, fermentation, composting) and before the mixture is produced. This applies in particular to biowaste collected separately in the organic waste garbage can, for example...", states the "Minor amendment to the Biowaste Ordinance 2022". It obliges both disposal companies and recycling plants to pay attention to the quality of the biowaste.
"The aim in Offenbach is to improve the quantity and quality of organic waste collected," says Christian Loose, deputy head of ESO's municipal services department. "Our resources and waste advisory service is working on solving two problems: In many large housing estates, organic waste garbage cans are not even made available to citizens. If bins are available, the purity of the collected organic waste is not always good."
Further actions planned
In addition, ESO Eigenbetrieb and Stadtwerke Offenbach are planning further campaigns. The organic waste campaign "The future is in the bin" is being updated. It motivates Offenbach residents to dispose of all their organic waste correctly separated and thus sustainably. In the best case scenario, money can be saved by filling the organic waste garbage can correctly and consistently: For example, using a 60-liter organic waste garbage can is up to half cheaper than using a residual waste bin of the same size.
Offenbach biowaste is taken to biogas plant
Offenbach's organic waste is transported to a biogas plant, where green waste and kitchen waste are fermented to produce climate-friendly biogas. This is used to generate electricity and heat. The residues left over after fermentation are used as fertilizer for fields and green spaces. The recycling plants therefore ensure that the quantities delivered are not mixed with other waste. Even the plastic bags often offered as compostable do not belong in the organic waste garbage can. They decompose far too slowly even in the biogas plant and then end up half-decomposed in agriculture and on lawns.
Under the new federal law, recycling plants must reject biowaste of poor quality or can sort out so-called contaminants for a fee. These costs must then be passed on to the waste disposal companies, in this case the Stadtservice, in the waste disposal fees. If the municipalities receive more and more of these invoices, the waste disposal charges for citizens will increase, as the law stipulates that charges must cover costs. If the load of organic waste is so heavily contaminated that the recycling plant rejects it completely, it ends up in waste incineration. Not only does this result in higher costs, but biogas and humus are also lost.
The common goal of Stadtwerke Offenbach and ESO Eigenbetrieb is to provide Offenbach residents with good information and thus achieve separate collection out of conviction. This benefits the climate and all citizens.
