2020-01-24

The deposit system in Germany enables small-scale charity

In downtown areas in Germany, you will often see beer and other beverage bottles standing next to public garbage cans. There is a very good reason for this and it might surprise you.

When a friend recently visited from Japan, he asked me why there are so many bottles next to garbage cans in downtown Bonn and not in the actual cans. I explained to him that a lot of people, when they go out, don’t bother to take their empties with them. Instead, they leave them near garbage cans for anyone who might come by later on and collect them to return the bottles for the deposit (it’s 8 euro cents for glass and 25 euro cents for plastic bottles).

As you might have imagined, the people who collect them are usually down on their luck and need as much as they can get. They might be homeless, retirees who can’t make ends meet, or on welfare. The people who leave them don’t necessarily need it, to put it bluntly. So, if you’re out and about, you can do something for someone else - a small gesture for one person can therefore mean a lot to someone else.

In the news
Coincidentally, the evening news ran a story (in German) about the people who collect the bottles in Düsseldorf. They even talk about special rings that some cities are putting around their garbage cans to make it easier for the bottles to be collected. It isn’t a new invention, but you can read about it in English here.

In my opinion
I like the fact that I can help someone out, albeit on a small scale. And I like even more that this kind of behavior has become something of a social norm where I live.