Germans throw around five million tonnes of waste from kitchen and garden into the bio-bin every year. The majority of organic waste ends up in the residual waste bin, which means that valuable raw materials are not being recycled. Biogas can be produced from biowaste by fermenting the regenerative energy source biogas, which is used for climate-friendly electricity generation, heat generation or as a fuel. Residues from fermentation and separately collected biowaste are processed into valuable compost. This compost is used as fertiliser on fields and in allotment gardens and can replace conventional fertilisers and climate-damaging peat.
Federal Environment Minister Svenja Schulze said: "Putting biowaste from kitchen and garden into the residual waste bin is a waste of resources. From there it merely goes to waste incineration although it can do so much more. Every vegetable and potato peel and every wilted flower helps in climate change mitigation and resource conservation and to produce low-emissions energy. That is why it is so important that as many municipalities as possible collect their biowaste separately and introduce the bio-bin everywhere."
The Biowaste Bin campaign calls upon all citizens to make the bio-bin promise. Pledges can be documented on the campaign website.
President Dirk Messner of the German Environment Agency comments: "More than three million tonnes of biowaste are wrongly disposed along with residual waste. So there is huge potential in this area to do more for the environment. Biowaste must also be collected more properly, which means plastic, glass and metal do not belong in the bio-bin as it is complex and costly to separate them from biowaste later on. After all, nobody wants bits of plastic and shards of glass on fields or in their own garden."
In autumn 2020 cities and rural districts all over Germany will be launching many local campaigns focusing on waste disposal as part of the Aktion Biotonne Deutschland. 145 cities and rural districts are listing their local service number for consumer to address questions about the bio-bin. NABU is offering contact information of local waste disposal advisory services.
Further information is available on the campaign website (German): www.aktion-biotonne-deutschland.de.
Click to enlarge