Recycling the German Way, a blog post by EcoGoodz, credential clothing suppliers

You’ve got to hand it to the Germans: They know how to recycle. Their national recycling rate is 87%, which means that out of everything they throw away, only 13% isn’t recycled. Here in the US, our national recycling rate hovers around 34%. Ouch.

OK, yes, Germany has fewer people than the United States, and is geographically smaller than the US. In total land area, Germany is roughly the size of Montana (Germany is 137,903 square miles, while Montana is slightly larger, at 145,552 square miles in size). In terms of population, however, Germany’s 80 million people is comparable to the size of the entire American West (defined by the US census bureau as including the following 13 states: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming).

The United States of America, on the other hand, is approximately 4 million square miles; 29 times larger than Germany. Our population is approximately 4 times that of Germany’s as well, with 319 million people. So yes, logistically (in terms of land mass and population), Germany has an advantage over the US when it comes to implementing and operating recycling programs.

Even so, there really is no excuse for our low recycling rates. Germany (and many other European countries) have shown us that near-zero waste is possible.

The ball is now in our court, so to speak. In Germany, citizens are penalized for improper disposal of trash. Is that what it’s going to take in the US? Or can we, as a people, voluntarily and willingly step up and recycle what can be recycled, compost what can be composted, donate used clothing, used shoes, and other used goods, and/or seek other ways to minimize the amount of actual trash we throw away? Our hope is the latter; our hope is that American citizens will continue to take responsibility for their trash…until it is gone!