From BZ/dpa
Full waste paper baskets and rubbish carelessly thrown into nature are a burden on Brandenburg’s municipalities, especially in summer. In many places, the quantities to be disposed of are increasing, which puts an additional heavy burden on municipal coffers. One problem is the “to-go mentality”.
With the beginning of the warm season, people flock outdoors – and leave many things behind. The amounts of rubbish in Brandenburg’s parks and lawns confirm this: “In the green and open spaces, but also in nature and landscape, rubbish accumulates that is often simply left lying around or makes the wastepaper basket overflow,” complained Potsdam’s city spokeswoman Christine Homann. This is reinforced by the “to-go mentality” that has been pronounced for several years.
Bottles, shards, cigarette butts, abandoned rubbish, garden waste and spare parts for cars, there is everything on the 41 green spaces in the city of Oranienburg (Oberhavel), as city spokeswoman Eike-Kristin Fehlauer reports. “It’s annoying when household rubbish ends up in public rubbish bins, which unfortunately happens a lot,” she says.
The three Potsdam World Heritage Parks Sanssouci, Neuer Garten and Pfingstberg are particularly affected by a significantly increased amount of waste on the approximately 730 hectares of gardens and green spaces of the Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation. Foundation spokesman Frank Kallensee provides information on this. “Since the first Corona year 2020, the amount of waste has increased by at least a third compared to previous years, but by an average of 50 percent,” he says. This trend will continue in 2022.
In Park Sanssouci, the disposal rounds were more closely timed. “Whereas in previous years 10 to 15 hours had to be spent cleaning up the garbage, now it’s 20 to 25 hours,” says the spokesman. In Park Babelsberg, the amount of waste has increased by around 40 percent. “When the weather is nice, two gardeners are currently busy for three hours a day six days a week with the waste disposal,” says Kallensee. Previously, two people had been deployed for one to two hours on three days a week.
According to Homann, the city of Potsdam has also increased the emptying cycles for wastepaper baskets and the cleaning cycle in certain parts of the city that are particularly hard hit, so that this garbage does not end up in the green spaces. “If necessary and feasible, additional wastebaskets will be set up or the cleaning cycles intensified,” says Cottbus city spokesman Jan Gloßmann. However, this means higher costs that ultimately have to be passed on to the fees. 118,000 euros are currently available in Cottbus annually for waste disposal in public green spaces.
In Oranienburg, the total annual budget for disposing of rubbish in public spaces averages up to 90,000 euros, says Fehlauer. Here, too, the trend is rising due to the current price development. The state capital Potsdam, which paid around 950,000 euros for emptying the wastepaper baskets in 2021, is also expecting cost increases. “In addition, more than 400,000 euros have to be spent to clear the green areas of rubbish lying around,” says Homann. A further 200,000 euros would be spent on the disposal of abandoned waste in the city area.
The Prussian Palaces and Gardens Foundation recently had to raise 21,000 euros just for the garbage disposal in the designated bathing area of the New Garden, as spokesman Kallensee reports. The removal of the garbage in Babelsberg Park now causes an additional annual cost of 16,300 euros.
With appeals to restaurateurs and citizens, the municipalities are trying to reduce the amount of waste, for example through reusable systems and recyclable material. According to Fehlauer, biodegradable crockery and a reusable drinks system were already in use at this year’s city festival in Oranienburg. “We are in talks with retailers and restaurateurs to what extent reusable systems can be used even more here,” says the spokeswoman.