Private households

Please place all waste containers and the yellow recycling bag out no earlier than the evening before collection and no later than 6:00 a.m. on the day of collection. Since the routes depend on various factors such as personnel, scheduling, vehicle and weather conditions, the collection times may vary. If access is blocked by construction sites, please place the waste containers in front of the construction site.

According to EU law, contracts for the collection of residual waste, organic waste, paper and cardboard, and recyclable waste must be awarded through Europe-wide tendering procedures. Like other waste management companies, we submit corresponding applications and have to await the decisions.

Due to holidays and bridge days or even technical problems in the fleet, there may be deviations. Please inform yourself about the waste calendar of your municipality, city or district. To do this, visit the website or use the Abfuhr App (App Store).

There may be several reasons for deviations from the usual collection schedule. Changes may occur, especially around the turn of the year, so please refer to the information in the waste calendar. However, vehicle breakdowns and bottlenecks can also cause collections to be delayed by a few hours. The time frame for collecting the sacks ranges from 6:00 a.m. in the morning to the early evening hours, depending on the area. Collection days that fall on a public holiday are usually postponed to the following day. Please also refer to your waste calendar for more information. If your Yellow Sack is incorrectly filled, it can be left at the curb marked with a red sticker for the disposal company to resort.
 

The German Packaging Ordinance states that the dual systems in Germany must coordinate with the municipalities responsible for waste disposal with regard to the design of the recycling collection systems. As a result, various collection systems are implemented nationwide, which results in regional differences.

Households that, due to their size, require more than the number of bags provided, can request additional vouchers for the missing quantity free of charge. The order area at www.gelb-kommt-an.de and the toll-free service number 0800 / 479 26 71 (Mon-Fri, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) are available for this purpose.
 

You can find all the information for the district of Vorpommern-Rügen at gelb-in-vorpommern-ruegen.de and for Oldenburg at gelb-in-ol.de.

We as the waste management company do not decide on the type and quality of the yellow sack, but rather the dual system, which is responsible for the tendering of the disposal contract in the district or urban area: The requirements for the quality of the yellow sacks are determined by the dual systems in cooperation with the respective public waste management authority. The regulations can be found in the coordination agreement or system definition. As a rule, DIN standards are used here, which must then be implemented by the company responsible for collection in cooperation with the respective suppliers. In addition to the price, the recycling quality of the material itself plays a major role for these companies, and this is where simple polyethylene films have a clear advantage.
We at the Nehlsen Group are naturally interested in using as much recyclate as possible within the scope of our contractual options, due to our own sustainability standards and our responsibility for the environment. 

We have built up a dense network of distribution points so that you can quickly get new yellow sacks as soon as you need them. Distribution points are often petrol stations, kiosks, press shops or lottery ticket outlets. At www.gelb-kommt-an.de, you can enter your postcode under the menu item “Verteilstellen” (distribution points) to find the nearest distribution point in your neighborhood.
 

For the district of Vorpommern-Rügen, you can find all the information at gelb-in-vorpommern-ruegen.de and for Oldenburg at gelb-in-ol.de.
 

Yes. You can use up any yellow sacks that are still in your household.

After collection, the yellow sacks are taken to sorting plants, where the packaging is sorted by material type. The modern facilities separate the materials almost fully automatically into plastic, tinplate, aluminum and composite materials. The metal-containing waste is recycled into aluminum and steel. In the case of plastics, the material composition determines whether they are recycled or used for energy recovery. For example, packaging made of polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) can be easily recycled and processed into new films, bottles and similar items. In the case of composite materials, which often consist of paper and aluminum, the individual composites are separated again and processed further.

All used, empty sales packaging that does not consist of glass or paper and that accumulates at private end consumers is allowed in the yellow bag or yellow bin. It does not matter whether the packaging is marked with a Grüner Punkt (engl.: green dot) or not. 

Paper packaging and disposable glass bottles are also sales packaging that are disposed of via the dual systems. Nevertheless, these do not belong in the yellow bag/yellow bin, as these are only intended for plastic and metal sales packaging. There are separate collection systems for paper and glass packaging (e.g. paper containers, glass containers), organized in cooperation with disposal service providers and municipalities. This ensures that these fractions are recycled in the best possible way.
 

If yellow sacks are filled with foreign substances not intended for them, such as residual waste or plastics not used as consumer packaging, they may be left by the disposal company for re-sorting. Incorrectly filled sacks are then marked with a red sticker.
 

Only completely empty packaging materials may be disposed of in the yellow sack. These are packaging materials, such as yoghurt pots or Tetra-Packs, that have been separated from their contents. However, it is not necessary to wash packaging materials. Sales packaging is packaging that, roughly speaking, encloses products for end consumers. These are to be disposed of in the yellow sack, provided they are not paper or glass packaging. Transport packaging (e.g. tarpaulins), on the other hand, must not be disposed of in the yellow sack. There are separate disposal routes for these.
 

The following are not organic waste: road sweepings, nappies, glass, packaging, cigarette butts, leftover food from restaurants and canteens. Oils, fats and thick pieces of wood must not be disposed of in the organic waste bin. You can take thick pieces of wood from the garden to the municipal green waste collection point.
 

Nehlsen is a municipal disposal partner for the collection of biowaste. On behalf of the municipalities, we empty the organic waste bins in various cities and communities. The biowaste we collect is fed into a natural rotting process in composting plants and processed into high-quality compost and growing media.

The following items must not be disposed of in the paper bin: folders, paper handkerchiefs, dirty paper, wallpaper scraps, coated paper (e.g. baking paper) and hygiene paper.
 

In our own sorting plants, the waste paper is separated into different components and qualities, pressed into bales and sent to paper mills to be used in the production of new paper.