How to sort trash and recycle in Germany

Germans take recycling seriously. It’s hard to sort your trash correctly. This guide will help.

Types of recycling bins

Standard recycling bins

You find these bins in your apartment building:

🔵 Blue bin (blaue Tonne)
For paper and cardboard. You can’t use plastic bags for the blue bin.¹ Flatten cardboard boxes before you recycle them.
🟡 Yellow or orange bin (Wertstofftonne)
For plastic and metal containers, and containers with the Grüner Punkt logo.
🟤 Brown bin (Biomüll)
For biodegradable goods. It’s used to make biogas and compost.² Don’t use plastic or biodegradable bags, only paper bags.³
⚫ Grey bin (Restmüll)
Things that you can’t sell, donate or recycle.
♻️ Glass recycling bins (Glasiglus)
For glass containers that don’t have a deposit (Pfand). In Berlin, you don’t need to clean glass containers.⁴ If your building has no glass recycling bins, find them in your neighbourhood. There are 3 bin types:
- 🟤 The Braunglas bin for brown glass
- 🟢 The Grünglas bin for green, red and blue glass⁵
- ⚪ The Weißglas bin for transparent glass

Other types of recycling bins

Bottle return machines (Pfandautomat)
For containers with a deposit (Pfand). These machines are in most supermarkets, usually near the door.
Battery recycling bins
For used batteries. These bins are in most supermarkets, electronics stores and hardware stores, usually near the door. Rossmann and dm also recycle batteries.
Electronics recycling bins
For used electronics and objects with the WEEE logo. These bins are in electronics stores, hardware stores, and some supermarkets. – More information

Recycling centres

Recycling centres accept almost everything. This is where you get rid of big items like construction materials, trees, furniture, appliances, carpets and mattresses.

List of recycling centres in Berlin – Berliner Stadtreinigung

Bulk trash collection days

On special days, you can bring furniture, mattresses and other big trash to special collection points in your neighbourhood. It’s easier than going to the recycling centre.

Bulk trash collection days – BSR

Containers and packaging

Paper and cardboard

🔵 Paper and cardboard ➞ blue bin
This includes egg cartons, paper bread bags, envelopes (even with plastic windows⁷). newspapers and magazines. Flatten boxes before you put them in the bin.⁸
🟡 Grüner Punkt logo or Tetra Pak logo ➞ yellow bin
🟡 Paper + plastic packaging ➞ yellow bin
This includes plastic bread bags, but not paper bread bags with transparent windows, and not paper envelopes with transparent windows.¹⁰
🟡 Milk cartons ➞ yellow bin¹¹
Plastic milk bottles have a Pfand.
🟡 Tetra Pak ➞ yellow bin
🟤 Paper towels, tissues ➞ brown bin
⚫ Coated, waxed and thermal paper ➞ grey bin
This includes receipts and paper coffee cups.
⚫ Dirty or greasy paper ➞ grey bin
This includes pizza boxes and take-out food containers.⁸

Plastic

🟡 Plastic ➞ yellow bin
This includes food containers, plastic foil and bottle caps.
Pfand logo ➞ return it, get money back
Most juice bottles have a Pfand.

Metal

🟡 Metal ➞ yellow bin
This includes aluminium foil.
Pfand logo ➞ return it, get money back
Most metal drink cans have a Pfand. More information here.

Glass

Glass ➞ glass recycling bins
The metal and plastic caps go in the yellow bin.¹² In Berlin, you don’t need to clean glass containers.⁴
Pfand logo or label ➞ return it, get money back
Most beer bottles have a Pfand. More information here.
⚫ Mirrors ➞ grey bin¹³
⚫ Crystal, porcelain and ceramic ➞ grey bin¹⁴
⚫ Light bulbs (incandescent or halogen) ➞ grey bin
- LED lights ➞ electronics recycling bin
- Energy-saving light bulbs ➞ recycling centre¹⁵

Styrofoam

🟡 Styrofoam ➞ yellow bin¹⁶
This includes food containers and packing material.
Styrofoam isolation for buildings ➞ recycling centre

Other

🔵 Paper bags with plastic windows ➞ blue bin
This includes bread bags with plastic windows,⁹ and envelopes with plastic windows.¹⁰

Food

🟤 Biodegradable food ➞ brown bin
This includes leftover food, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bread, cheese, egg shells, tea bags, coffee grounds, paper towels and bones.
⚫ Fat and cooking oil ➞ grey bin
Don’t pour the fat down the kitchen drain, because it can block the pipes.¹⁷

Clothes and shoes

🎁 Sell or donate
If they are still good, sell or donate them
Old textiles ➞ recycling centre

Where to donate clothes in Berlin

Electronics

Phones, computers and electronics

Electronics stores (bigger than 400 m²) must recycle your electronics.²³ You don’t have to buy something there.

Big stores (bigger than 800 m²) that sell electronics must also recycle them, even if they are a different kind.²³ You don’t have to buy something there. This includes hardware stores,⁶ supermarkets and drugstores.

In reality, most supermarkets don’t recycle electronics, even if they are required to.²²

Recycling centres accept all electronics and appliances.

🎁 Sell or donate
If they are still good, sell or donate them. You can also bring them to a repair café.
Electronics ➞ electronics stores, hardware stores, supermarkets, recycling centres
Batteries ➞ electronics stores, hardware stores, supermarkets, recycling centres
Supermarkets have a collection box near the cash registers. Car and motorcycle batteries have a Pfand. If you still have the receipt, bring them back to the store where you bought them, and you will get some money back.

Batteries

Supermarkets, electronics stores and hardware stores have battery recycling bins, usually near the door. Rossmann and dm also recycle batteries.

Batteries ➞ electronics stores, hardware stores and supermarkets
Car batteries ➞ auto parts store, some recycling centres
They have a €7.50 Pfand.¹⁸ A.T.U accepts car batteries. You must have the receipt to get the Pfand backs. Some recycling centres recycle batteries for free, but only if they accept dangerous materials (Schadstoffe).

Battery recycling bin at Lidl — A battery recycling bin in a Lidl supermarket

Printer cartridges and toner

Cartridges and toners do not go in the yellow bin. Recycle them where you recycle small electronics.

Light bulbs

Incandescent light bulbs ➞ glass recycling bins
Fluorescent light bulbs ➞ glass recycling bins
Energy-saving light bulbs ➞ hardware store or recycling centre
Neon lights ➞ hardware store or recycling centre

Furniture and appliances

🎁 Sell or donate
If it’s still good, sell or donate it.
Appliances ➞ appliance collector, hardware store, or recycling centre
Stores that sell appliances must also recycle them for free. When you buy an appliance, they often take back your old appliance. You can also contact Wachmachinen Entsorgung Berlin. You can bring broken appliances to BSR recycling centres.
Big items ➞ recycling centre or collection days
This includes furniture, appliance and mattresses. In Berlin, BSR can pick up big items (for a fee). You can also wait for bulk trash collection days in most areas.

Trees, soil and grass

🟤 Plants, yard trimmings, soil, cut grass ➞ brown bin
Christmas trees ➞ collected in January
Look at your city’s trash collection calendar (Abfuhrkalender). You just need to leave the tree next to the street. More information here.

Oil and paint

Paints, oils and lacquers ➞ hardware stores, some recycling centres
Bauhaus, Hellweg, Hornbach and OBI will take it. Check if your recycling store accepts dangerous materials (Schadstoffe). They charge a small fee per kilo.
Car oil ➞ garages, car parts stores, hardware stores, some recycling centres
If a business sells car oil, they must accept your old oil.¹⁹ Usually, they only take oil if you bought it from them. If you ask nicely, they will take oil from other places. Check if your recycling store accepts dangerous materials (Schadstoffe). They charge a small fee per kilo.
Car tires ➞ garages, recycling centres
At the recycling centre, you must pay around €3 per tire.
⚫ Cooking oil ➞ grey bin

Other things

⚫ Animal poop ➞ grey bin
This includes dog poop and cat litter.
🔵 Books ➞ sell, donate or put in the blue bin
⚫ Baby diapers ➞ grey bin²⁰
⚫ Medicine and drugs ➞ grey bin.²¹ More information here.

Useful links

Recycling information in English, with printable sheet – BSR
What goes where? (in German) – search tool by BSR

Sources and footnotes