Waste and recycling in Berlin

For waste that cannot be recycled. BSR burns it in its waste-to-energy plant in Ruhleben.

• Yes: hygiene products and tissues, nappies, pet litter, broken crockery, mirror and window glass, vacuum cleaner bags and sweepings, dirty or coated paper, photos, wallpaper remnants, dried paint, ash.
• No: plastics and metals (yellow/orange bin), bottles and jars (glass containers), paper and cardboard (blue bin), food scraps and coffee grounds (organic bin), batteries, electrical appliances, hazardous substances, rubble, bulky waste.

All of Berlin is connected to the organic waste bin. BSR turns its contents into biogas, which fuels part of its fleet, and into compost.

• Yes: food leftovers including cooked food (wrapped in newspaper), old food without packaging, fruit and vegetable scraps including citrus peel, coffee grounds and filters, tea bags, eggshells, kitchen paper, cut flowers, leaves and small garden cuttings.
• No: plastic of any kind, including "compostable" bioplastic bags, packaging, foil, metal, nappies and hygiene products, textiles, cat and small-animal litter, treated wood, ash, soil, sand, stones, glass.

Collect kitchen waste in a container lined with newspaper or in paper bags, not in plastic bags.

In Berlin this bin takes packaging and other items made of plastic, metal or composite materials, not only packaging. It is yellow or orange depending on the provider (ALBA in most districts, BSR in parts of Lichtenberg, Neukölln, Tempelhof-Schöneberg, Steglitz-Zehlendorf and Reinickendorf).

• Yes: yoghurt pots and margarine tubs, plastic bottles for detergents and cosmetics, plastic bags and foil, polystyrene food trays, drink cans and tins, bottle caps, aluminium foil and trays, drink cartons, and small household items such as watering cans, plastic bowls, toys, pots, cutlery, tools and screws.
• No: electrical appliances, energy-saving lamps, batteries and rechargeable batteries, textiles, data carriers, wood, paper, glass, hazardous substances, bulky waste.

Bottles and cans with a deposit do not belong here; return them to a shop and get your money back (see the guide on shopping and Sundays).

• Yes: newspapers, magazines, brochures, catalogues, books, exercise books, writing paper, paper packaging, cardboard boxes (flattened).
• No: wallpaper, dirty paper, coated paper such as wax, baking or photo paper, carbon copy paper.

If there is no blue bin, you can bring paper to a recycling yard free of charge.

Glass is mainly collected in the dome-shaped glass containers (Glasiglus) on the street, separated into white (clear), brown and green. Glass bins in courtyards are now only provided in exceptional cases, and many buildings outside the S-Bahn ring were switched to street containers. You can find the nearest containers on Berlin Recycling's map, or take glass to a recycling yard.

• Yes: bottles (juice, wine, vinegar), jars (jam, baby food, preserves), other glass packaging, perfume and medicine bottles. Lids may stay on; rinsing is not necessary.
• No: drinking glasses and crystal, window glass and mirrors, crockery, porcelain and ceramics, light bulbs and LED or energy-saving lamps.

When you may use them: throwing glass into containers is noisy, so it is restricted in residential areas. Under the federal equipment noise ordinance (32. BImSchV), which Berlin's state noise law extends to mixed and inner-city areas, glass containers may not be used on Sundays and public holidays, and on working days (including Saturdays) only between 7:00 and 20:00. Follow the times printed on the container.

Since 1 January 2025, textiles must be collected separately in Germany. Wearable, clean and dry clothes, shoes (tied together in pairs) and household textiles such as curtains and bed linen go to textile collection containers, BSR recycling yards (packed in bags), charity shops or BSR's second-hand department store NochMall. Only textiles that are worn out, very dirty, wet or contaminated still go in the grey bin.

Anything with a plug, a battery or the crossed-out wheelie bin symbol must never go in household bins. Lithium-ion batteries in phones, electric toothbrushes, shavers or toys can start fires in bin lorries and sorting plants.

• Recycling yards accept household electrical appliances free of charge, in household quantities.
• With a BSR bulky waste collection, electrical appliances are collected free: up to eight large appliances (of which up to three "white goods" such as fridges and washing machines) and any number of small ones.
• Shops: electronics retailers with more than 400 square metres of sales space must take back a large old appliance when you buy an equivalent new one, and take small appliances up to 25 cm free of charge without a purchase. Grocery stores over 800 square metres that sell electrical goods must also take back small appliances up to 25 cm.
• Remove batteries where possible and tape over the terminals. Batteries go into the collection boxes in shops or at recycling yards.
• Delete your personal data from phones, computers and hard drives before handing them in; that is your responsibility.
• Do not hand appliances to unofficial dealers waiting outside recycling yards; BSR warns that the devices are often exported or dumped.

Paint and varnish, solvents, chemicals, acids and alkalis, old medicines, spray cans, car batteries and contaminated soil must not go into bins or down the drain. Six BSR recycling yards have a hazardous waste point (Schadstoffannahmestelle):

• Behmstraße 74, 10439 Berlin (Pankow)
• Brunsbütteler Damm 47, 13581 Berlin (Spandau)
• Gradestraße 73, 12347 Berlin (Neukölln, Recyclinghof Plus)
• Hegauer Weg 17, 14163 Berlin (Steglitz-Zehlendorf)
• Nordring 5, 12681 Berlin (Marzahn-Hellersdorf)
• Oberspreestraße 109, 12555 Berlin (Treptow-Köpenick)

Berlin households can hand in up to 20 kilograms per substance per day free of charge; larger amounts are charged by weight. Bring substances in their original containers where possible. Gas cylinders, ammunition, explosives and loose asbestos are not accepted.

BSR runs 14 recycling yards across Berlin for waste from private households. According to BSR's price list (dated January 2025 and still the current list in October 2026):

• Free: bulky waste including old wood and scrap metal up to 3 cubic metres per visit, electrical appliances, paper and cardboard, glass, packaging, old textiles and shoes, household and car batteries, CDs, printer cartridges, and tree and shrub cuttings up to 1 cubic metre.
• Charged: residual household waste including bagged renovation waste (3 euros per 50 litres, up to 500 litres), tiles, bricks and other mineral rubble (4 euros per 10 litres), car tyres (3 or 8 euros each), toilets and washbasins (6 euros each).
• Only waste from Berlin households is accepted. You may bring it yourself or have friends or relatives bring it in a private or rented vehicle; commercial transport services may not deliver household waste.
• Five yards (Gradestraße, Ostpreußendamm, Hegauer Weg, Lengeder Straße and Rahnsdorfer Straße) accept good used items for the NochMall.
• Yards are busiest at midday, on Saturdays and after public holidays.

For more than 3 cubic metres, you can bring bulky waste to BSR's treatment plant at Gradestraße in Neukölln for a fee (180 euros per tonne, minimum 72 euros for up to 400 kilograms, 2025/2026), or book a collection.

BSR collects bulky waste from your flat on any floor. Book online on bsr.de or by phone at 030 7592-4900 (Monday to Friday 8:00 to 18:00, Saturday 8:00 to 14:00). Fees for private households in 2026:

• Saver fee (Spargebühr): 50 euros for up to 5 cubic metres, plus 10 euros per extra cubic metre started; collection from the 16th working day.
• Standard fee: 100 euros for up to 5 cubic metres, plus 20 euros per extra cubic metre started; collection within 6 to 15 working days.
• Express fee: 96 euros for up to 2 cubic metres, plus 48 euros per extra cubic metre started; collection within 5 working days.

Furniture must be dismantled, or you can book dismantling as an extra service. Electrical appliances (within the limits above) and old textiles in labelled bags are collected free with an order. Pay by girocard, debit or credit card, Apple Pay or Google Pay; cash only in exceptional cases. You can change quantities up to two working days before the date and cancel free of charge up to four working days before. Private orders are accepted for up to 15 cubic metres.

Avoid bulky waste scams: unofficial firms imitate BSR online and then demand much higher prices on the day. BSR takes orders only on its own website or at 030 7592-4900, sends a written confirmation with order number and price, arrives in orange vehicles with Berlin "B-S" number plates and orange uniforms, does not negotiate prices on site and uses no subcontractors.

Putting a mattress, a fridge or furniture on the pavement, even with a note saying "free to take" (zu verschenken), counts as illegal dumping. For dumped bulky waste of more than one cubic metre, Berlin's environmental fine catalogue provides for fines of 500 to 10,000 euros, and federal law allows fines of up to 100,000 euros; dumping appliances or materials containing hazardous substances can be a criminal offence. Give usable items away through BSR's online swap and give-away market, BSR's neighbourhood days (Kieztage), the NochMall or charities.

If you see illegally dumped waste, report it to the district public order offices through Ordnungsamt-Online or its app.

Bins are emptied on fixed days; BSR's address-based collection calendar (Abfuhrkalender) and the BSR app show yours. In weeks with public holidays, collections move by a day or more; BSR publishes the changes in advance. For example, in the Christmas week of 2026 collections are brought forward to the days before.

If your building's bins are regularly overflowing, tell your landlord or property management. Homeowners can request extra emptying, and BSR sells residual waste sacks for 6 euros each at recycling yards, which you place next to the grey bin for the next collection.