Recycling and fleamarkets

Running round the same suburban streets as earlier in the week. Normal people leading normal lives in an unremarkable sort of way. So seems sensible to write something about a very normal, and nearly everyday activity here - recycling. Germany is really into recycling. Lots of sources say they are the number one country for recycling in the world, with the average consumer recycling 76kg every year. There are laws that support it - in the early 90s a law was passed which meant that food and drink producers have to take back their packaging for recycling. And as even Lord Alan demonstrated this week, waste management is big business. In Germany, the sector makes 50 billion euros a year.

So what does it practically mean for you or me? Firstly you have to sort your household rubbish into bins for paper, food, glass, plastics which have a green 'recyclable' dot on them, and other. So you have to have lots of bins! Then you have to sort your glass. Brown, green and white can go into bins in the street - but not on Sunday - when it is against the law to make a loud noise. But you can also make some money out of it. Stores will buy back empty bottles - for about 8 euro cents each. After a good weekend that could mean nearly two euros! This hasn't passed some entrepreneurial types by. There are plenty of homeless people out and about on Friday and Saturday nights picking up the discarded bottles of trendy hipsters on their night out.

The recycling philosophy doesn't just stop at household waste. It feels very much like an engrained way of life here. There are tons of great flea markets across Berlin where you can pick up anything from antiques like 19th century globes, 1950s armchairs and 1930s radios, to more modern items such as shower heads, inline skates and even 1980s jumpsuits! There is a good, but bit pricey one on Boxhagener Platz every Sunday, a bigger more eclectic one at Mauerpark again on Sundays and my favourite in Treptower Park (Eichenstr 4) on Saturdays. There are no nice cafés and its a bit dirty (think I did see a rat) but its cheap, you can bargain and where else can you buy a collection of toilet wheelchairs?