As I sit here, they are finally picking up the last container we will have for the winter. Since we’re done with the construction for the time being, we’re not going to order another trash container until the weather gets nicer. That way we can clean out the barn and other yucky areas when the weather is at least a bit warmer and don’t need to be wearing 5 layers of clothing.

I’m trying to recall exactly how many containers we’ve had so far…
We had two 10 cubic meter (approx. 350 cubic feet) trash containers in August 2006.
In September we had another two 10 cubic meter trash containers and one 5 cubic meter container for gardening waste.
We filled up yet another 10 cubic meter trash container in October and in November ordered a 7 cubic meter (250 cubic feet) building material waste container.
Because the majority of the building was done once that container was full, we went back to ordering regular trash containers again. So in December we ordered yet another 10 cubic meter container and finally have had our 7th 10 cubic meter container picked up today.

In total that makes 70 cubic meters of regular trash, 7 cubic meters of building materials (that was the one I was digging through to get our old bricks out) and 5 cubic meters of gardening waste although we probably only filled it up half-way.

Needless to say, all of these trash containers have been an expensive venture and we are wishing we owned some stock in the container company. But disposing of it any other way would have been massively more complicated and probably even more expensive. This is Germany, after all, where it’s next to impossible to throw things away outside of your usual trash containers. For example, we currently have 4 different trash cans and 1 special sack to throw garbage away in. The cans are for: gardening waste (branches, grass clippings, etc), household compost (potato peelings, egg shells, etc), paper and all other regular trash. The sacks are for packaging materials and plastic. And the best part is that each of these trash collection days is on a totally different day so you really have to pay attention to those little trash schedules…or hope your neighbors are putting their trash out early!