There is no trash anywhere. No litter, no discarded aluminum cans or cigarette butts (and smoking is common here, so this is a surprise). There’s so little trash that I’m not sure what to do with the trash in the can in my apartment. It seems that there should be a dumpster or outside cans somewhere, but so far, no luck. Maybe I can sneak it into work and throw it away there?

Recycling is very popular here and seems that everyone does it. Tomorrow must be recycling day, because every home I walk by has clear bags out front (that say something in German) and seem to be filled with recyclables.

They also don’t use aluminum cans here anymore. Everyone buys their drinks in 1 L bottles and then returns them to the store for money. It’s significant money that gets refunded, which must encourage recycling. Yesterday, I was at a grocery store with one of my hosts (kind of like a superwalmart, more on this later) and 24 or so empty liter bottles netted about 10 euro.

Unlike US hospitals, there are no Styrofoam/plastic/paper cups used here. They drink water and coffee out of, get this, water glasses (yes, glass) and coffee cups. They magically get washed in the dishwasher in the endo unit and get reused. As a result, they seem to generate a lot less trash.