International Review of Waste Management Policy - Department of ...

9.0 Pay-by-use – Germany
9.1 Outline of Policy
The local competent authorities in Germany (439 cities and counties) raise disposal
fees from their citizens for the disposal of waste. These fees are required to cover the
costs of collection and disposal. The law on charges lays down the principle of costrecovery
– the collection of waste fees is not intended to generate a profit. The levels
of waste fees, as well as the design of the charging systems themselves, vary
considerably across Germany.
In the waste laws of several of the 16 states in Germany, it is stated explicitly that
charges for the disposal of waste shall constitute incentives for the prevention of
waste as well for the separation of waste for recycling (e.g. Art. 9 para 2 of the Waste
Law of Nord-Rhine-Westphalia). In other states of Germany these incentives are not
regulated explicitly (e.g. the Waste Law of Hesse) but their regulations have to
consider the principle of waste avoidance in a similar way.
The calculation of waste charges in Germany is based around either of the two
following models:
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� Flat rate charging. Households are charged in accordance with the number of
persons per household (the flat rate model is applied by the majority of the
municipalities in Germany). Waste fees are usually divided into an annual fee
and a container fee. The annual fee depends on the number of persons in a
household; the container fee depends on the size of the container, usually a
wheeled bin.
� Pay-as-you-throw (PAYT) charging. Direct charging according to the quantity of
the waste disposed (pay-per-volume model is used, for example. in
municipalities in the counties Darmstadt-Dieburg and Gießen in the state
Hesse).
Only the second of these approaches can be considered a pay-by-use system.
It is important to note that according to German law, citizens are obliged to dispose of
their waste using the local waste disposal system. Citizens cannot, therefore, refuse
to have a wheeled bin. This is due to the fact that the fees for the public disposal
service have to be paid by the community.
Countywide uptake of charging systems has tended to take several years. Darmstadt-
Dieburg County introduced the first charges in 1996 and achieved full coverage of
municipalities in 2001. Gießen in the Land Hesse took from 2001 to the end of 2005
to introduce the fee system across all municipalities.
9.2 Where Has the Policy Been Applied and Why?
There is no statistical overview about the situation in the 439 cities and counties in
Germany due to differences in application of waste management systems, including
the charging systems used. Typically, PAYT systems are more common in counties
International Review of Waste Policy: Annexes