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July 19, 2007
Berlin's Approach to Recycling: Why Not in NYC?
When you're walking around Berlin, you can't help but notice the clusters of large recycling bins that dot the city. It got us wondering why New York doesn't do something similar. It would certainly be simpler and, we'd think, more effective than the current confusing curb-side system. Anyone know the reason?
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Comments
Looks like there's a lot of graffiti in Berlin.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:27 AM
that probably put a lot of hard working people out of work. those that depend on recycling to make money.
instead of going to pickup cans they would be rolling on welfare.
Posted by: armchair_warrior at July 19, 2007 10:35 AM
Well, how long has the city been promising street lavotories? I actually used the one near City Hall during it's brief exsistence and it was not unpleasant.
Certainly public recycling should be an additional option to the current system.
Posted by: Lisa Munoz from Sunset Park at July 19, 2007 10:35 AM
I would hate to have to look at these at all times. Having lived in Europe for a long time, I appreciate the fact that the curb-side recicling allows for a period in which neither garbage nor containers like these are visible on the sidewalks. In addition - these stink in hot weather. Bad idea if you ask me...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:38 AM
....are you crazy?.....nobody would walk more than a block to recycle....you'd have to have two of these on every corner.....
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:39 AM
You think this is attractive? ugh.
And - most NYers can't even be bothered to put litter in trash can...they prefer the curb.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:41 AM
I think the short story is:
Germany passed a law stating that a business that creates something that could become trash is responsible for collecting it in the end.
Business not wanting to be involved in waste management hired a company to do it for them, and place a green dot on thier products to tell consumers to place the trash into the appropriate collection bins managed by the waste company
the cost of this service is passed onto consumers, estimated at $2.5 billion per year (this is in addition to regular recycling program costs)
look up German take-back law
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:45 AM
huh? 10.45AM
I live in Germany and have never heard about this in my life.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:49 AM
very ugly recycling igloos... something else for the arrested development crowd to cover with graffiti...
can just imagine what would eventually be tossed into those things here in NY... can we pass on this idea? :)
Posted by: bren at July 19, 2007 10:55 AM
It does not look like these bins are very large. The recycling from my apartment building alone would require about six of these.
The graffiti is a turn-off.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 10:56 AM
saw the same thing in spain this week - but in areas where they do not have trash pick-up....
reason we will never have them in NYC? 1) someone won't like the color 2) someone wont like the shape 3) someone will think its a racist/sexist thing 4) someone will not like the fact that they can't get their stroller past them 5) someone will think their design isn't "contextual" 6) someone will think its a symbol of gentrification etc etc
In other words the same reason why progress in this city takes too damn long. For example(s), 1) endless whining about economic development (gasp) of brooklyn and 2) we'd all rather watch Al Gore movies than do something tangible like adopt some form of congestion/traffic regulation
Posted by: anon at July 19, 2007 11:03 AM
amsterdam has these cool underground bins with holes in teh top to drop recycling into. then a machine lifts it up and drains it.
also, bottles get returned in grocery stores on a conveyor belt machine. glass isn't broken in those machines, they're washed and reused by the brewerise.
Posted by: anon at July 19, 2007 11:22 AM
well, if kids write on those, they might be less inclined to write on concrete, community service for grafitti writers could be the cleaning and maintenance of them...also another job for lower income people earning welfare...however there is no room on any streets for these, at least in residential areas... they could have one on every block of the Arena, tho
Posted by: anon at July 19, 2007 11:24 AM
There is a similar system in Amesterdam, where you are made more responsible for taking your your own trash out. In most neighborhoods the trash and recycling receptacles are big metal squares housed underground and there is a normal-looking trashcan that comes out of the ground that you shove all your paper and bottles into. A truck comes by every week or so and lifts the whole thing up and empties it. It's a great system--aesthetically non-invasive, doesn't smell or promote vermin. In some parts of the city there is still curbside trash collection like we have in NY, but you only have a 2 hour window of opportunity in which to take out your trash 2 or 3 nights a week. A sanitation crew comes by during that time, takes away the trash and uses a high-pressure spraying machine to disinfect the street. If you leave your trash out at any other time a truck picks it up and "garbage investigators" look through it and if there is anything linking your address or name to the garbage they fine you. And if you live in a curbside collection area you still have to schlep your recycling to the nearest bin which can be blocks away.
Posted by: bolletje at July 19, 2007 11:27 AM
It would never work in NY. Once they start finding body parts in them...
Posted by: GHB at July 19, 2007 11:29 AM
10:49AM
Maybe you should spend more time looking into local affairs and less time on a Brooklyn real estate board ...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 11:31 AM
@ anon 11:22; I forgot about those grocery store recycling conveyor belts...they rule! If you hand in a whole crate of beer bottles they give you like 7 euros back. Those bottle refunds save many a Dutch student from imminent starvation, or worse --sobriety.
Posted by: Bolletje at July 19, 2007 11:35 AM
Touche 11:03.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 12:23 PM
We do that in the UK too.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 12:34 PM
NYC housing projects don't have recycling in the compactor rooms on each floor of the buildings. They have bins outside on the street. They are ugly but not as ugly as these!
Posted by: rf at July 19, 2007 12:34 PM
"confusing curb-side system"? Oh come on. If people are confused about recycling in NY, they really have no business owning a brownstone. and i bet if those bins turned up anywhere in brooklyn, this site would be the first to condemn them.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 1:02 PM
There's just less civic pride in NY. It's a city that never overhauled their electric grid and subway system (ka-boom!), why should they bother with the trash?
I really miss these European recycling places, it makes more sense to bring away your stuff when it suits you, not waiting for collection day.
But I have a feeling everything ends up on the same heap in Staten Island anyway.
Posted by: dropjes at July 19, 2007 1:15 PM
Finding Body Parts in the re-cycling bins would really only be a problem in Red Hook. And occassionally on South Oxford Street.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 2:27 PM
Was Bloomberg;scongestion pricing approved? has anyone heard the details?
Posted by: bren at July 19, 2007 2:43 PM
i bet they blow up real good, too.
Posted by: candycakes at July 19, 2007 2:46 PM
congestion pricing was squashed by a bunch of people (well the representatives of a bunch of people) from queens/brookly/LI who want the right to drive 1 person to an SUV into manhattan...maybe it wasnt the right solution but it was at least a step in the right direction to make the city more liveable and Albany killed it...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 3:20 PM
You'll get one of those drumming guys bangin' on these babies all day
Posted by: Jim at July 19, 2007 3:31 PM
take it back...looks like last minute deal to proceed with congestion pricing or at least forming a committee to examone it and put forward recommendations...
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 3:56 PM
They have similar recycle units at Giants Stadium. They hold a bunch of stuff and people do use them
Posted by: wombatNYC at July 19, 2007 4:12 PM
I think Bren just woke up from a bender. Let her know there was explosion on 41/Lex yesterday too. And Bush is still president.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 4:21 PM
Thank you Anonymous 3:56 PM, I heard something on the radio, but didn't catch the details... :)
Posted by: bren at July 19, 2007 5:17 PM
I know one reason. This is ugly as hell! It probably stinks too. I'm sure that it is a roach and rat magnet! I'll continue to recycle my own garbage, carefully rinsing and storing it until recycle day.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 6:22 PM
The truth is that in NYC all the trash ends up in the same place. re-cycling is merely a cynical manipulation on the part of politicians who want to appear environmentally-friendly but who do not want to divert money away from oher sources (like bribes to church congregations at election time)to pay for it.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 7:38 PM
Eh, lots of cities in Europe have this. It's pretty ineffective as you have to walk fairly far to recycle. Curbside pick-up is a lot, lot easier.
Posted by: Alex at July 19, 2007 9:13 PM
I lived in Berlin for almost 10 years, you would be lucky if there are recycling containers like these within 10 blocks from your home and besides, they are for glass bottles only (green, brown, clear), therefore they don't really smell. Anyway, there are much less beverages sold in glass bottles in NYC and nobody would walk even 1 block instead of just trowing it on the curb... however, people in Germany and probably also in the rest of Europe actually claiming the few cents refund for soda, beer and other bottles at the supermarket, New Yorkers just don't do that. The containers in Berlin are basically meant for non-refund bottles like wine, champagne, juice, baby food etc.
Posted by: Anonymous at July 19, 2007 9:29 PM
Berlin has graffiti everywhere. It's insane. It's just a German cultural thing, really. Walking around former West Berlin, and any surface easily reachable is tagged, it seems. So these aren't any more a magnet for tagging then anywhere else.
Posted by: casey at July 19, 2007 10:21 PM
"Berlin has graffiti everywhere."
Another great American export.
Posted by: William at July 19, 2007 10:48 PM
They have these in New Jersey, but for Prom Babies.
Posted by: Roger Bixley at July 19, 2007 10:53 PM
Gee, Brownstoner gets a clue! You should travel more often and share your brilliant observations with the idiots back home who read your blog. Hmmm...
Posted by: Ed at July 20, 2007 12:35 AM
They had similar "igloos" in Paris, France. But they got rid of them during the terrorist attacks (the ones a year or two before 9/11) for fear that bombs would be placed inside the ones full of glass bottles and be used as giant bombs. It was a pity. I remember hearing the glass bottles being inserted by people, and feeling like we were all pitching in. What was great was you didn't have to store all your recyclables in your home, you just went downstairs and put them in the big ball (I think we called them "boules").
Posted by: carolita at July 20, 2007 12:48 AM
CONFUSING CURB-SIDE SYSTEM? I manage just fine.
Posted by: Blair at July 20, 2007 1:25 AM
veto.
Posted by: asif at July 20, 2007 8:13 AM
See that big open space they're sitting in?
WE DON'T HAVE ANY OF THAT!
Posted by: bob at July 20, 2007 9:49 AM
Graffiti an American export? People have been drawing on walls since the beginning of human civilization.
As for the bins, it would be awfully nice if NYC could make a system like this work, realistically and honestly. If only citizens and bureaucrats alike would be to be willing to do their parts.
Posted by: Lascaux at July 20, 2007 9:49 AM
Any art school dropout knows about Lascaux and Altamira, these cavemen werent poor kids illegally writing on cave walls in protest, I think you know that. The modern form of Grafitti which was invented and developed directly out of the slums of New York is what we are talking about, the style that is being copied all over Europe.
The same way America is to blame for copying from the European rennaisance, we just chose something better to copy.
Posted by: palimpsest at July 21, 2007 11:15 AM
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