At the beginning of the 20th century, the German Empire, which had just been unified for more than 30 years, was experiencing rapid industrialization and population explosion. In the capital Berlin, the influx of industrial workers makes the city prosperous, but it also brings a big problem: a lot of garbage.
At that time, the urban managers represented by Yongke landlord gave three solutions: landfill, incineration and classified reuse.
The odor generated by burning garbage and the existence of high-quality coal mines in Ruhr area made the garbage incineration scheme rejected quickly. The garbage sorting plan was officially launched on 1907 in Charlottenburg, Berlin.
However, even though there were only three types of garbage classification at that time, it was inevitable that the pilot would eventually abort because of the lack of understanding and support from residents, lack of financial subsidies, and unprofitable garbage recycling. At that time, it was generally believed that only maids would sort garbage.
Since then, the garbage sorting scheme has been completely forgotten, and landfill or even garbage mountain has become the default option for Berliners to deal with garbage. Today, this landfill has been transformed into an 87-meter-high neuer Hahneberg, and it has even become a good place for outdoor sports enthusiasts to train paragliders.
The concept of garbage classification was revived again during the Third Reich. Nazi Germany, which was in the wartime economic model, once called for "all-round recycling of garbage" in the form of political slogans, among which the classification effect of petrochemical products such as metal garbage, waste rubber and plastics was the best.
With the fall of the Third Reich, this history was soon forgotten. The concept of garbage classification was thrown into the garbage dump of history for the second time. For political reasons, even today, no one wants to affirm the achievements of the Nazi Party in the field of garbage sorting and utilization.
Stepping into the 1950- 1960' s, with the outbreak of the Rhine economic miracle, Germany, which is in urgent need of development, embarked on the road of rapid rejuvenation. Germans who have suffered for 20 years are getting richer and richer, and they even compare the complexity of product packaging or packaging waste.
All this finally ushered in the turning point of the energy crisis in the1970s.
1973, the Roman Club, a non-governmental academic group, published a famous report "The Limit of Growth", pointing out that natural resources are limited. This kind of cognition began to spread rapidly among the people. At the same time, the Green Party movement, which began to flourish, gradually implanted this idea into German thinking.
At this time, a large number of Germans have begun to recycle garbage spontaneously. Voluntary garbage sorting even became a footnote to the spirit of that generation of German times.
By the1980s, waste glass and waste paper recycling bins had been set up in various residential areas in Germany on a large scale. Although garbage sorting was still based on personal wishes at that time, the benefits of garbage sorting and recycling and valuable secondary raw materials made garbage sorting win unanimous support from the public and the industry.
Interestingly, at that time, the West German government never revealed any legislative intention about garbage classification. After all, East Germany, a poor neighbor, is always willing to import plastic waste from West Germany in exchange for the precious foreign exchange of the West German mark.
1990, East Germany merged into West Germany. The German government, which lost the export market of plastic waste, quickly passed the packaging regulations. This regulation is not only the embryonic form of the current garbage classification system in Germany, but also declares that the concept of garbage classification has finally ushered in the third revival in Germany.
Then, after more than 100 years of ups and downs, is Germany's garbage classification system perfect?
The answer is still no.
According to the report of "German Times", the "wrong throw rate" of classified garbage bins in big cities in Germany is as high as 40%, while the wrong throw rate of other kinds of garbage as a panacea is as high as 60%. Although the detailed garbage sorting list can be collected online and at the city hall for free, it is obvious that not everyone is willing to study trivial issues such as "what kind of garbage used diapers belong to" or "whether cat litter belongs to other kinds of garbage".
In 20 15, Germany's circular economy law came into effect, which clearly listed garbage classification as a civic obligation, and those who refused to perform it would be fined ranging from 30 euros to 5,000 euros. ?
If you throw the unfinished yogurt box into the yellow trash can, it is a "common mistake"; But if you throw the plastic toilet plug into the yellow trash can, it is a "deliberate mistake" and you will face a fine, because this move is obviously irresponsible after some thinking.