In future, the Salzgitter municipal waste management company will therefore place particular emphasis on clean separation of organic waste in order to reduce the amount of contaminants such as plastics and residual waste to three percent of organic waste. Those who do not comply with this risk a fine of up to 5,000 euros.

Around 1,200 composting and fermentation plants in Germany produce around 2.5 million tons of nutrient-rich compost for agriculture and horticulture from around 5 million tons of potato, banana and egg shells and many other kitchen and garden waste from organic waste garbage cans. This is enough to fertilize an agricultural area almost half the size of Saarland. This saves large quantities of energy-intensive artificial fertilizer.

Biowaste is closer to nature than any other household waste, as the compost produced is used as a soil conditioner in fields, parks or gardens - where plastic shreds or broken glass, for example, are absolutely taboo. The biggest enemy of the organic waste garbage can is therefore waste made of plastic, glass and metal. Some people think that a plastic bag, a jam jar or a quark pot will simply be taken out again by the waste collection service. This is completely wrong: the technical effort and costs involved are enormous.

Kitchen and garden waste, such as fruit and vegetable waste, leftovers, lawn and shrub cuttings and flowers are mainly disposed of in the organic waste garbage cans. Unfortunately, inspections of the organic waste garbage cans have revealed that many contaminants are contained in the garbage cans. The organic waste garbage cans that were incorrectly filled (e.g. with plastic bags or bioplastic bags) were not emptied on the collection day. Property owners have the following options:

• Re-sort the organic waste garbage cans and only put out properly filled bins on the next organic waste garbage can emptying day,
  or
• order a chargeable special emptying as residual waste for organic waste garbage cans that have not been re-sorted at the following e-mail address srbdispostadt.salzgitterde.

Plastic bags in particular do not belong in the organic waste. Plastic bags or bioplastic bags made of biodegradable plastics are excluded from disposal via the organic waste garbage can in the city of Salzgitter. This also applies to bioplastic bags certified in accordance with DIN EN 14995 or EN 13432. So-called bioplastics or biodegradable plastics do not decompose quickly enough in the standard composting times in the plants and the smallest plastic particles are released into the environment as microplastics via the compost.

The SRB therefore asks all users of organic waste garbage cans to observe a few instructions regarding the filling of the bins. Only newspaper or uncoated paper bags may be used for the disposal of organic waste. Please dispose of spoiled food in the organic waste garbage can without packaging.

If you follow a few tips from the waste advisory service when handling the organic waste garbage can, odors and maggot formation can be avoided. Line the base of the organic waste garbage can with coarse material, e.g. egg carton, wrapping paper, shrub cuttings, and also place coarse material around the edge to prevent organic waste from sticking. Do not compact the biowaste, as a lack of oxygen will cause fermentation. Allow particularly moist biowaste to drain well beforehand. Fresh grass cuttings in the organic waste garbage can quickly clump together and cause odors, so allow the grass cuttings to dry out beforehand and fill them loosely into the organic waste garbage can. The organic waste garbage can should be placed in a cool, shady place with the lid closed to avoid additional heat build-up and thus odors. After emptying the organic waste garbage can, allow it to dry out well and clean the rim and lid in particular. If maggots appear despite all measures, they can be controlled by sprinkling algae lime or rock flour on top.

Questions about waste disposal can be answered by calling 05341 / 839-3741.