Garbage and recycling

At a glance

In Germany, waste is separated before being collected. This page explains how to separate and where to dispose of waste in Tübingen.

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In Germany, waste is separated before being collected. This page explains how to separate and where to dispose of waste in Tübingen

Which garbage goes where?

Gelber Sack (yellow bag): recyclable packaging materials (plastic containers, plastic bags, tin cans etc.). Everything with the Grüner Punkt mark on it.

Papiermüll (waste paper): anything made of paper or cardboard, e.g. paper packaging, newspapers, paper bags from the bakery etc., as long as it's clean (= no used paper dishes etc.). No tissue paper.

Biomüll (organic waste): food leftovers, vegetable and fruit leftovers, plants, tea/coffee bags, egg shells, meat, spoiled food etc.

Restmüll (residual waste): all remaining/unrecyclable waste

Common bin colors are blue for waste paper, green for organic waste, and gray/black for residual waste.

On the day of collection, your bin needs to be next to the street so the trash collectors can empty it. You can put it out on the night before collection. If you are living in a dormitory, housing management usually takes care of putting the bins out.

Overview of collection days

You can get a personalized overview of the collection days in your street online from the pages of Tübingen's waste department (in German only)

In the box saying "Bitte wählen", please select where you are living. If you live in one of the villages belonging to Tübingen, please select "TÜBINGER Teilorte". From the drop down menu next to it, please choose the area or street you are living in.

Then you choose the year. After that, you can display the dates using different options.

"Waste alarm" - reminder to take out the trash

Want to make sure that you don't miss any waste collection days? You can set up a "waste alarm" ("Müllwecker") email alert on the homepage of Tübingen's waste department, or you can check out the Tübingen waste app.

Unfortunately, the website exists in German only. If you need support, please contact your personal support.

Plastic and glass bottles

For many plastic and glass bottles, there is a separate collection system called Pfandsystem. This means that when you buy something in a bottle, you pay a small deposit (Pfand) which you will get back when you return the bottle, e.g. at the grocery store. Returnable bottles have the following symbol printed on their packaging:

pfand2

Empty bottles can be returned at special machines at the supermarket. The machine will print a receipt for you, and you will get the deposit back at the register.

All other glass (not plastic!) without this symbol - e.g. jam jars, wine bottles, vinegar/oil bottles etc. - has to be disposed of in a public glass container. There are separate containers for white, brown and green glass. Red and blue glass also go into the green glass containers.

Glascontainer2

You can find glass containers near your home on this map:

www.abfall-kreis-tuebingen.de/entsorgen/wohin-mit-den-abfaellen/container-standorte/altglascontainer-stadt-tuebingen/

You can find the container nearest to you by choosing the area you live:
- "Stadt Tübingen" if you live in Tübingen including Südstadt, Derendingen and Lustnau.
- "Tübingen Teilorte" if you live in one of the villages belonging to the city of Tübingen.
- "Landkreis Tübingen" if you live in one of the towns/villages belonging to the Tübingen county (Landkreis), but not to the city of Tübingen.

To limit noise for the neighbors, throwing glass into the containers is only allowed Monday to Saturday between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m..

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