TRASH TALK

First a caveat:  This blog is public.  That means anyone who knows the web address can read everything I've posted.  I could have protected it with a password or forced all of you readers to become members of it to see it - but that's a hassle and who needs another password to remember these days!!  

Since it is public, I’ve tried really hard to keep this blog anonymous.  This was a decision I made for many reasons:  1) my husband is a frequent topic.  I am the one writing this thing, and many of my experiences involve him (God help him).  However, HE did not make the decision to write a blog, and I’d like to protect him from things he didn’t want perfect strangers who many stumble upon this blog to learn about him.   Of course I consulted him before starting this, and he was supportive, but on a day to day basis, as new information is posted, there may be something in here that he wouldn’t want, say an employer who Googles his name to learn.  2) I am a woman.  I am security conscious.  I don’t need folks I’ve never met (or worse, those I have and wish to protect myself from ) to be able to pry the lid off of my head and read my daily thoughts AND then be able to find me.  That is something that would make me the tragic subject of a “Movie of the Week” on Lifetime, and that’s a role I’d prefer to skip!  3) I have friends.  They also share my life experiences.  I don’t want to have to ask them permission to write about what we did yesterday every time I spend time with them.  My spidey-sense tells me that this would probably not make me very popular either!!

It is reason number three that brings me to my next disclosure:  I’ve decided that for the purposes of this blog, I’m going to name all of my friends Jane.  That way, it will be clear enough that I can tell the stories, but confusing enough that no one will know any one Jane’s secrets :)

So, let’s talk some trash!  Germany is very eco-conscious – a fact that we like a lot.  There are towns here that will not allow vehicles that don’t pass a high emission standard.  (Period.  Your polluting car stops here, my friend.  Our town does not want what you’re putting out there. Park it and then walk on in, if you want).   There are rules about leaving your car idling too long (30 seconds is the max – even at a red light).  And then there’s the garbage.

Our courtyard has 3 different bins for garbage collection.  One says Paper, one is clearly compost.  Then there’s another one.  It wasn’t immediately obvious what goes in there. Also, when we walk down the street, we sometimes see these yellow bags filled with what must be recycling. And NONE of the containers seem to accept glass!  Hmmmm…  (Note:  I broke a wine glass the other night and it has been sitting on my kitchen counter.  A painful reminder of my clumsiness AND an indicator of just how ignorant Hubbz and I are!!)

We saw a roll of yellow garbage bags at the hardware store last week, so we bought them.  The ones we’ve seen on the street have (German) instructions on the outside indicating what goes in them – and they’re fairly large.  These were small and without instructions…..hmmm…wrong bags.   Recently, at a different hardware store we saw another roll of yellow bags.  They looked bigger.  The band around the roll of bags stated they were 5 liter bags.  We shrugged and bought them.  Same bags as before – no writing, no instructions….hmmmm.  And, come to think of it, none of the cans in our yard had yellow bags collected in them. So what do we do with them once we fill them?!?

Finally, while we were in Italy last week, we asked Jack and Jane who were travelling with us about the bags.  They have lived here for a few years, so they’re our go-to answer folks.  They broke it down like this.  We were right about the compost.  The paper can accepts only paper – but nothing that’s been coated with plastic or wax (no juice boxes or milk cartons).  The other can was for trash – stuff that doesn’t fit in any of the other categories.  Our glass items needed to be deposited in receptacles around the neighborhood.  There are little igloo looking things where you separate your brown glass, green and white glass from each other.  But what of the yellow bags?

The yellow bags (called gelbesacks) are for recycling plastics and plastic coatings.  They also take Styrofoam and metal cans.  You can’t buy them at a store – they’re free.  But you have to get them FROM CITY HALL.  Apparently, one of the rooms in our basement is for gelbesack collection.  On retrieval day, our hausmeister (or building manager) carries them out to the street as he does with all of the other trash collection.  

Thank goodness for Jack and Jane.  We SO want to be good neighbors – and in rule-loving Germany, we know that doing so means following the procedures correctly.  Turns out Jack and Jane are out of gelbesacks too, so Jane and I are going to meet on Thursday morning for a little field trip to city hall.  It turns out, there’s also a vegetable market out there three days a week, so we’ll hit that also.  Who knew trash could be an adventure?!