Whether wilted flowers, rotten lettuce or fruit scraps: organic waste goes into the brown bin.

Germany's organic waste bins will be allowed to contain only minimal amounts of plastic in the future, so that the organic waste can be easily processed into compost. Starting May 1, government regulations will stipulate that plastics may not make up more than one percent of the weight of organic waste.

Although conventional plastic bags and plastic boxes are already prohibited in organic waste, consumers and businesses in some places are not complying. The new rules are increasing the pressure on waste disposal companies to deliver better quality waste to organic waste facilities.

The proportion of foreign matter in general—in addition to plastic, this also includes stones, glass, ceramics, and tin cans—must not exceed three percent of the weight. This is usually checked visually, but sensors and artificial intelligence applications are increasingly being used.

The Association of Municipal Utilities (VKU) welcomes the new rules. They are "an important first step toward reducing the release of microplastics into the environment," says association vice president Uwe Feige.

From the perspective of the German Association for Secondary Raw Materials and Waste Disposal (bvse), the "right of rejection" contained in the regulations is particularly important. This allows plant operators to refuse to accept heavily contaminated organic waste. Suppliers then face high costs if they have to reload the already unloaded waste and transport it elsewhere.

"The real leap in quality lies in the possibility of preventing inferior material from entering the recycling process in the first place," says bvse expert Andreas Habel. If the quality of organic waste is too poor, it must be incinerated – and the hoped-for use as compost or biogas is never realized.

The new rules won't change anything for consumers initially, but they could indirectly feel the consequences: municipal waste collection companies could increase their efforts to improve the quality of the organic waste they collect. "The new limits are primarily aimed at municipalities, which can create incentives for better waste separation through waste regulations – for example, through public relations work, fee models, or sanctions for incorrect disposal," says Anja Siegesmund of the industry association BDE.

The industry expert is also annoyed that far too much organic waste still ends up in residual waste rather than in the brown bin. Municipalities are called upon to conduct analyses and implement measures to ensure that more organic waste ends up in the brown bin.