Freiburg installs special trash bins for pizza boxes

No more trying to fit a square in the circle

World Cleanup Day is fast approaching (16 September), and the City of Freiburg is already calling on its residents to take action and organize, individually or with a group, trash collection activities. The local authorities have set the tone already by demonstrating their own innovative example in that respect.

At the beginning of August, five new trash bins were installed in the streets of the German city. What makes them unusual, however, is that they are specially designed to accept pizza boxes.

The new containers were pioneered with the idea of letting people easily dispose of those bulky cardboard items by stacking them in the receptacles. Pizza boxes have long been considered problematic as trash due to their shape which takes up a lot of space, even if people try and fold them with effort first.

The pizza box rubbish bins are located near pizzerias or popular places, such as the southern shore at the Moosweiher or the Dreisamufer near the Café Extrablatt.

Regular waste containers get can-and-bottle add-ons

Another addition to the trash container landscape of the southern German city will be bottle holders that can be attached to the regular garbage bins. This allows passersby to leave any plastic or glass bottles or cans in the round slots.

The attachments will also help the trash container surroundings look tidier since many people tend to leave bottles and cans around them, especially when the bins are full. The piling up of bottles, apart from its unsightly nature, creates dangers as glass bottles can break and little the public space with shards.

The addition of the rings would also ease up the work for people who collect glass bottles for the deposit return system.