this post was submitted on 23 May 2025
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[–] Shootingstarrz17@lemmy.world 0 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

This is the way, get paid for cleaning pollution.

[–] nshibj@lemmy.world -2 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

Nah, in Germany you're not paid for cleaning anything. You aren't getting any money: you are fined 25 cents (for some glass bottles it's 15, for some 8) when you buy the drink in case you don't recycle. You might get that money back if you bring the bottle back to the supermarket, they accept it, and the return machine is working at the time. It's a scam.

[–] PokerChips@programming.dev 7 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (2 children)

That"s not a scam. It's a solution. Take care of your Earth.

Unless the store is pocketing the money. I'm assuming the credit is going to a government program or non profit organization.

[–] nshibj@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago* (last edited 4 hours ago) (1 children)

Absolutely! Take care of your earth! But you don't need to fine people for a loitering crime they haven't committed. Not all bottles have Pfand in Germany: soft drinks? Yes, juice? No, beer? Yes, wine? No. It's a hypocritical bullshit system.

[–] PokerChips@programming.dev 1 points 58 minutes ago

Don't see how this is a fine. Take it back. Get your rebate. And bonus is that i don't have to walk through your trash.

[–] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 9 hours ago

I’m assuming the credit is going to a government program or non profit organization.

Not really. It's complicated.

Basically all of the money is being shuffled between importers/manufacturers, stores and consumers.

Germany has about 95-98% return rate for the bottles (mainly because it's somewhat lucrative to collect them). So very little money is left over.

There's a company called DPG that is responsible to make sure that no part of the system is profiting of it unfairly

Germany wikipedia (annoyingly only available in german) https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pfand_auf_Einweggetr%C3%A4nkebeh%C3%A4lter_in_Deutschland

All in all, it's a net benefit. I remember the time before this system, and you had drink cans littered around everywhere. Ever since the system is in place, I can count the amount of littered cans (e.g. cans that are too crushed to be returned) on maybe one hand

[–] Obelix@feddit.org 2 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

It's a deposit system that works as a deposit system. And it's purpose is to decrease the amount of bottles that get thrown into the streets and that does totally work. Just compare how many bottles are lying around in Germany to other countries.

[–] nshibj@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

No, it's not: it's a fine you pay because it's assumed you'll litter some bottles: not all bottles have Pfand, which is nonsense: soda yes, juice not.

And the number of bottles lying around? Germans come back from Spain praising how clean the streets are and Spain has no Pfand system. That's just not true.