A small part of the vast network of conveyor belts transporting trash past infrared scanners for sorting. Human staff will then pick through the remaining waste for any more recyclable material. — Photos: SIM LEOI LEOI/The Star
IT’S after 11am on a Monday morning and yellow-gloved, apron-clad workers are filing into the “picking lines” at Interzero, one of Berlin’s waste management companies.
They have the tedious job of picking through tonnes of waste – 140,000 tonnes annually – after the company’s advanced infrared system has taken a first pass, looking for items like tin foil and black waste materials.
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How Germany treats its waste
Tractors moving waste from the reception hall to the sorting section.
The lovely exterior of a facility that deals with ugly waste: the Interzero waste management centre some 18km out of central Berlin.
Interzero's distinctive orange trucks trundling into the facility with waste and heading out to collect even more.
A staff member at a grocery store demonstrating the recycling machine for glass bottles.
Customers who return bottles receive a slip with credit which they can later redeem at the store.
One of the huge dumpsters at the centre in Essen.
A resident's car laden with items for recycling at the centre in Essen.
The array of bins for different types of waste outside a typical home in Essen.
Members of the Malaysian delegation with Interzero's Krumrey (third from left) at one of the remnants of the Berlin Wall near the facility in Berlin.
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