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October 28, 2022The Outlast Trials Closed Beta: FAQs Thank you for joining us during the Closed Beta weekend, going on from Oct […]
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September 01, 2022Red Barrels is looking for an Animator Technical Director who is focused on innovation, and team collaboration and is action-oriented. […]
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August 23, 2022Remake Yourself in The Outlast Trials – Closed Beta Date Revealed During Gamescom Opening Night Live Today we […]
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August 25, 2021We are excited to present the first gameplay reveal of The Outlast Trials during Gamescom Opening Night Live 2021.
A whole new take on […]
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April 09, 2021We want to start by thanking everyone for their undying passion for the Outlast games and for enthusiastically waiting […]
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October 29, 2020Murkoff has the tricks, but we have the treats. Here’s some brand new screenshots of The Outlast Trials.
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June 11, 2020Our Murkoff inside source says that the PC Gaming show this Saturday, June 13th, might be worth checking out… Places to […]
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February 28, 2020Welcome to Inside the Barrel, a series where we chat with members of the RB team about their work on […]
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December 06, 2019The Red Barrels team is excited to announce our latest project in the Outlast universe.
Whilst not a direct sequel […]Read more
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October 31, 2019Announcement coming soon.
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October 26, 2018Our community asked for a physical edition on Nintendo Switch and Limited Run Games heard you! Check out […]
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September 11, 2018The Red Barrels team is proud to be presenting the 2018 edition of MEGA, Montreal’s Expo Gaming Arcade, this November […]
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March 27, 2018Our team is excited to announce that Outlast 2 has joined the rest of the universe on the Nintendo Switch.
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February 27, 2018Surprise! The Outlast: Bundle of Terror edition is now available on the eShop for Nintendo Switch. Pre-orders for Outlast 2 […]
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December 07, 2017It’s time for a little status update from us. First off, we wanted to take a moment to thank all […]
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March 06, 2017We are happy to announce that Outlast 2 will be releasing digitally on April 25th across PC, XBOX One and […]
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February 22, 2017Have you ever wondered who some of Outlast’s characters were before the events at Mount Massive? Find out more about […]
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November 22, 2016You shat, we listened.
We’re excited to announce that Underscares, the Outlast 2 companion diaper inspired by the Outlast community, is now on Kickstarter […]Read more
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October 04, 2016The Outlast 2 playable demo is now available to download on Steam, Playstation 4 and XBOX One until November 1st. […]
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September 21, 2016Have you ever wondered who some of Outlast’s characters were before the events at Mount Massive? Find out more about […]
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The Outlast Trials Could Lay the Foundation for a Co-Op Saw Game
By
Jared Stewart
Red Barrels could be a great developer to take on a co-op Saw game, as The Outlast Trials’ co-op multiplayer horror bears many similarities to the IP.
Saw’s theatrical franchise may not be everyone’s favorite horror series, especially in its later entries, and its game adaptations may not have had any better reception. But Saw is still an IP that could potentially be adapted to games in a meaningful and satisfying way, so long as it has the right developer and the right gameplay. Considering the torture puzzles that typically constitute a Saw experience, there are few designs that would work. Fortunately, Red Barrels’ next horror title will be The Outlast Trials, which could offer the perfect formula for a co-op Saw game.
Further, it’s not like there hasn’t been an attempt to revive the franchise in games in the recent past, since it is already publicly known that Bloober Team passed on the Saw license in favor of Blair Witch. If the intent is to remove the IP from the shelf and give it a home with a new developer, Red Barrels might find success with it following the third installment of its Outlast franchise.
Only scarce details have been shared about The Outlast Trials, but its survival-horror co-op gameplay may lend itself well to having players help one another escape Jigsaw’s traps.
RELATED: TimeSplitters 3 Has a Great Horror Level to Play for Halloween
The Outlast Trials Seems to Follow the Saw Formula
Relinquishing the story-driven premise of Outlast and Outlast 2, Red Barrels has decided to take its third installment in a relatively opposite direction with The Outlast Trials. Set during the Cold War, players are involuntarily dragged off to be scientific test subjects and endure sadistic challenges that it considers therapy, with survival being the only goal that players have.
The environments shown thus far for The Outlast Trials are incredibly elaborate set pieces, not unlike the ones established in the Saw franchise. This gives Red Barrels an unending amount of ingenuity and potential with the trials it proposes for players, especially when it is considered that The Outlast Trials intends to feature co-op with up to four players.
Outlast’s traditional cat-and-mouse gameplay may be reprised here in some regard, but The Outlast Trials already looks more robust with new gameplay mechanics that players should expect. Such mechanics include setting remote trap devices as a way to finally fight back instead of exclusively hiding or running.
Red Barrels Could Be the Perfect Developer for a Saw Game
Outlast’s simplicity is likely what made it so popular back when it was released, even if nowadays that same simplicity is critiqued for not having much substance to it. That is a fair argument when considering that the entire experience consists of hiding and peering out of cabinets while looking through a night vision camcorder.
However, The Outlast Trials seems fairly emergent for Red Barrels in terms of what it can offer in gameplay, and it could be an easy transition from The Outlast Trials to Saw in the future. On paper, the premise for both The Outlast Trials and Saw is the same: victims gain consciousness and learn they are part of a horrific experiment that is proposed to them under the guise of therapeutic enlightenment.
Individuals are coerced into performing a horrible act of violence, or trapped in a delicate mechanism and must put themselves through irreparable anguish to escape. The Outlast Trials claims that players will be freed if they successfully survive, and whether that is true or not, that is the same promise made by Saw’s Jigsaw. Of course, most Saw traps are engineered to be inescapable. But because both The Outlast Trials and Saw seem to share so many similarities, Red Barrels should absolutely be considered as a developer if the license is still being offered around.
The Outlast Trials is in development.
MORE: Bloober May Have Passed on Saw, But Other Developers Should Get the Opportunity
10 private wineries and huge factories worth visiting
Maria Rudnitskaya
drinking wine and laughing
Author profile
Wine lovers are interested in Crimea.
There are small family wineries in stunningly beautiful places and huge factories that were founded back in Tsarist Russia.
I studied Crimean winemaking and traveled to local farms when I attended the sommelier school at the Sevastopol branch of Moscow State University. It is also easy for travelers to get to most of the enterprises: they conduct tours and tastings, show equipment, production workshops, barrels where wines are aged.
In this article, I will talk about 10 wineries in Crimea and Sevastopol, which I consider the most interesting. The law does not allow you to post links to wineries’ websites and their phone numbers, so I do not list them in the article, but share only general information.
While coronavirus restrictions are in effect, tours and tastings can only be accessed with a QR code or a negative PCR test.
Which wineries I will tell about
- Solnechnaya Dolina
- Massandra
- Alma Valley
- Uppa Winery
- Inkerman
- Perovsky Manor
- SATERS
- Mangup estate
- New Light
- 197 kg household and bulky waste
- 143 kg of recyclable waste — paper, packaging or glass
- 107 kg organic waste
- 3 kg of other rubbish — paint, cleaning products and batteries
Sun 9004 9005
Two, Minda where: .
excursion — 450 R, tasting — 500 R
Time to visit: 45-90 minutes
«Solnechnaya Dolina» is one of the oldest wineries in Crimea, it is more than 130 years old. It is located in the eastern part of the peninsula — it is convenient to drive there on the way to Koktebel or Sudak. It is especially beautiful there in autumn, when the leaves of the vineyards turn red.
Excursions in Sun Valley are held every day. They start at 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 15:00, 16:00. During a factory tour, tourists descend into ancient cellars with long rows of oak barrels. They hold wine. Tour guides ask you not to make noise in these tunnels: the company believes that wine is a living being that needs peace, silence and love.
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Wine tasting is also held in an old building — a former manor house. Among the 10 samples are white and red dry, semi-sweet, liqueur wines, and ports.
I consider the dry wines of Solnechnaya Dolina to be the best in terms of price and quality among the oldest wineries in Crimea. Dry wine from the local grape variety Kokur costs from 595 Р. If you want romance, a tasting will be held for you in the evening and by candlelight.
Archaderesse is the old name of the Solnechnaya Dolina plant Prince Lev Golitsyn, the founder of Russian winemaking, equipped these cellars back in 1888 , tasting — 800 R
Time to visit: 1-2 hours
Massandra seems to me the most beautiful of the ancient Crimean wineries. It was also founded by Lev Golitsyn.
Guests descend into the cellars, which are almost 130 years old. One of the largest wine collections in the world is kept there. The oldest of the wines is Jerez de la Frontera from 1775. I am ready to come to the plant a hundred more times just to see the stone grottoes and dusty bottles that lie in them again.
The feeling that you are touching eternity: these wines are 200 years older than you and will probably outlive you by the same number.
And in the hall where bottles of 20th century Massandra are stored, guests usually look for shelves with the year of their birth.
The history of the plant is also very interesting. For example, during the Revolution and the Civil War, the wine collection was saved from ruin: the descent to the cellars was covered with the same tiles as the floor in the entire building. The looters didn’t find anything.
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How wine tourism works in Russia
9 samples are tried at the tasting. «Massandra» is known for its dessert, liqueur and strong wines: ports, Madeira, sherries. One of Massandra’s ports was the favorite wine of Tsar Nicholas II.
There is a shop at the winery. They sell rare wines from the plant that cannot be found elsewhere.
Tours and tastings are held every day according to the schedule. Tours start at 11:00, 13:00, 15:00 and 17:00, tastings at 11:50, 13:50, 15:50 and 17:50. There are VIP tours around the plant: a tour and tasting of collection wines costs 20,000–45,000 R for a group of no more than 10 people.
These tours are available by appointment.
In stores, Massandra ports cost from 500 R, sherries — from 650 R, Cahors — from 600 R.
The main building of the plant looks like a small castle There are more than a million bottles from all over the world in the Massandra wine collection
Alma Valley
Location: Vilino village, Bakhchisaray district
Cost: excursion — 500 R, tasting — from 1000 R
Time to visit: 1-2 hours
Alma Valley is a modern plant. It was built in the form of huge barrels with a common roof. The barrel has several floors. Each of them goes through a certain stage of wine production. First, the berries are brought to the roof and sorted. Then the grapes are sent to the press. Then the must — grape juice — gets even lower, into vats, where it will ferment.
Such multi-level wineries are called gravity: at each stage, the grapes move under their own weight. This ensures the most careful attitude to future wine and its quality.
For those who have visited wineries more than once and have a good idea of the production process, Alma Valley is interesting: there are few such wineries in Russia.
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When you go down to the cellars of the factory, where wine is aged in barrels, you hear classical music. She plays there around the clock: as they say at the factory, so that the wine is more harmonious.
There are two tasting sets to choose from — «Standard» or «VIP». Both consist of 10 samples and differ in that the VIP includes wines from premium lines. Tasting «Standard» costs 1500 R, VIP — 2500 R as part of a combined group. You can gather your group up to 10 people, tastings in this case will cost 13,000 R and 22,000 R, respectively.
Tours and tastings must be booked in advance. Please note that the tasting room is open from 09:30 to 17:00 from Tuesday to Saturday.
Wines of the basic line in stores cost from 500 to 800 RUR.:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/24319356/ss_0576920dd310fd71cf63ff3035ff46137634febf.jpg)
Alma Valley has one more feature — the way the vine is tied. It is called «lyre» and really looks like a lyre. From afar, the plant looks like a spaceship. Up close you can see that these are three rooms in the form of barrels
Uppa Winery
Location: Rodnoe village, Balaklava district, Sevastopol
Cost: excursion with tasting — 5000 R
Time to visit: 2 hours
Uppa Winery is my favorite winery on the peninsula. It is located in a beautiful hilly area near Sevastopol.
The main feature of the winery is that it is a biodynamic farm. This means that chemicals and pesticides are not used in the vineyards, pests are controlled only by natural methods, for example, herbal decoctions. The earth is fertilized with manure, which is kept in cow horns. All operations are performed in accordance with the lunar phases and other biorhythms. The winery tells in detail about all these subtleties.
I like that there is a family atmosphere and at the same time a completely rock and roll atmosphere.
If at Alma Valley wine is created under Mozart and Bach, then here — under hard rock and Alla Pugacheva. The founder of the estate, Pavel Shvets, is one of the most famous people in Russian winemaking and, in my opinion, the most charismatic. He is an amazing storyteller. Lucky are those who get to wine tasting, when it is conducted by Pavel himself.
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To visit the winery for free, you have to wait until the grape harvest time. It starts in August. On its Instagram, the winery invites volunteers to collect different varieties. This work is not paid, but all assistants are treated to dinner, they show the winery and arrange a tasting of the wines of the farm.
Excursions with tasting for a fee are available all year round by prior reservation. Group and individual excursions are possible. Group tours are held on weekdays and start at 13:00, the price is 5,000 R.
An individual tour can be booked at a convenient time, the price is 40,000 R for a company of up to 6 people.
Uppa Winery wines are expensive, their price ranges from 2,500 to 17,000 RUR. I like the line with hand-drawn labels with funny inscriptions. Wines made from it cost from 2,500 to 4,650 rubles.
My friends complain that their back hurts after working in the vineyard. And for me, grape harvesting is the best meditation, when you don’t think about anything and completely immerse yourself in yourself. Uppa Winery is located in a stunningly beautiful place. It is most picturesque here in autumn
Inkerman
Location: Inkerman, Sevastopol
Cost: tour — 350 R, tour with tasting — 800 R
Time to visit: 45-90 minutes
If you have been to Sevastopol, you must have paid attention to the white houses in the city center. They were built from Inkerman limestone. In the adits that remained after the extraction of stone, the Inkerman plant was equipped in 1961.
Underground galleries with bottles and barrels in which wine is aged — one of the largest in Europe. They occupy 55,000 m 2 , which is why the Inkerman wine cellars are called the underground city.
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8 wine samples are offered for tasting. Most wineries do not serve snacks, but Inkerman is an exception: wine is accompanied by cheeses.
Tasting participants receive a 10% discount on purchases in the company store. Inkerman has many wine lines. I like their Cabernet Sauvignon blend, Saperavi and Rkatsiteli orange wine. In stores, they cost from 650 R.
Factory tours start at 10:00, 13:00 and 15:00. You must pre-register.
It’s always cool in the endless adits of Inkerman, so take warm clothes with you even on a hot day
Perovsky Manor
Location: Leninsky district, Sevastopol
Cost: tour and tasting — from 5000 R people
Time to visit: 2-3 hours
The wines of the Perovsky Estates are undeservedly known in Russia, while the plant has existed since 1890 years.
And in the last decade, he has been lucky with winemakers, for example, with Todor Katsarov and Alexei Chernega.
A tour of the winery is combined with a tour of the Perovski house-museum. This is a well-known family, but most of all Sofya Perovskaya is a member of the People’s Will, she led the assassination of Alexander II. The house-museum contains photographs and documents. One of the rooms was dedicated to the history of the development of the plant.
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The winery offers 3 types of tours.
«Classic Crimean» is a tour of the Perovskys’ house-museum and a tasting of 6 wines. It costs 5000 R for a group of 10 people. A tour of the winery is paid separately, it will cost 500 R per person.
During the «Crimean Riviera» tourists walk around the winery and Perovski’s house-museum, communicate with the winemaker’s assistant, taste 6 wines with snacks.
The cost is 8000 R for a group of 4 to 10 people.
«Grand Reserve» — a tour of the winery and the Perovsky house-museum, communication with the winemaker, tasting of 7 wines with snacks. Price for a group of up to 4 people — 13 500 R.
In stores the base line of red and white wines of the “Perovsky Manor” costs from 500 to 800 r.
SATERS
Where is the village of Dolinnoy, Bakhchisarai district
Cost: 4500 r
Time for visiting: 2.5 hours
«Satera» has a confusion with names. The enterprise itself is called «Satera». It produces several lines of wines, including Esse. This name is used in wine tourism, inviting people to Esse vineyards. And the name «Satera» is written in small print on the labels. Therefore, tourists sometimes think that Satera and Esse are different wineries.
Satera does not offer tours of the winery. Instead, the company hosts tasting dinners in its vineyards.
In my opinion, it is even more interesting, especially at sunset.
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Tourists walk through the vineyard, take photos, they are told the history of the plant. Then they try 6 wines with delicious food: oysters, bruschettas, spicy soup, filet mignon. I consider many Satera drinks to be among the most interesting in Crimea: for example, I like wine made from Odessa black grapes, its price is from 1100 R. Wines of the basic line cost from 600 R.
Mangup Estate
Location: Rodnoe village, Sevastopol
Cost: 2000 R
Time to visit: from 1 hour
Manor wine factory «Manor Gup» They do not yet have their own winery, but they have a large area and beautiful vineyards. They are next to Uppa Winery.
On the «Mangup» they walk through the vineyards, ride bicycles around the neighborhood, taste 5 wine samples.
I liked their Pinot Noir and Syrah the most. In stores, pinot noir costs from 1000 R, white wines — from 880 R.
There is a guest house on the territory where you can stay overnight. Accommodation costs 8,000 R per day for a company of up to 5 people. This is a good opportunity to combine tours to two places — Uppa Winery and Mangupu.
I was at the Mangup vineyards in winter. In summer and especially in autumn, they look much more picturesque. The most interesting thing about tasting is tasting wines that have not yet gone on sale. You feel like a pioneer
Novy Svet
Location: Novy Svet village, Sudak
Cost: tour — 500 R, tour with tasting — from 700 R
Time to visit: 40-90 minutes
Lev Golitsyn founded a sparkling wine factory in Novy Svet in 1878. This is one of the oldest wineries in Russia and the first Champagne House in the country. The Novy Svet cellars have several tiers, and the tunnels for aging wines were cut down right in the mountain.
The factory still makes sparkling wines only according to the classical technology. This means that the fermentation process and aging take place right in the bottle, and not in huge acratophore vats. During the tour, tourists are explained and shown the process of producing sparkling wines using this method.
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There are several tours of the winery. A standard tour with a tasting of 6 wines costs 1200 RUR. An express tour with a short tour of the factory and a tasting of 3 wines costs 700 RUR. On the Aristocrat tour, the tasting takes place in the guest office of Lev Golitsyn, where he received Nicholas II. It costs 25,000 R for a group of up to 10 people. Excursion without tasting costs 500 RUR.
In stores, sparkling wines from Novy Svet cost from 640 RUR.
Golden Balka
Where is: Balaklava, Sevastopol
Cost: excursion — 600 r, tasting — 650 r, tasting — from 1000 p
Time for visit: 30–90 minutes
» Zolotaya Balka is also a sparkling wine factory, but here they are produced both according to the classical method and according to the simplified one — the Sharma method.
During the tour, they explain the difference between these technologies and tell the history of Crimean winemaking.
Now Zolotaya Balka produces not only sparkling wines, but also still wines. I like the premium collection. To create it, the plant invited Oleg Repin, a well-known Russian winemaker who also collaborates with Esse.
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How much does it cost to go around Crimea by car . For an individual excursion, the price remains the same. Excursion with premium wine tasting costs 4000 RUR.
In addition to the winery, there is a restaurant of the same name on the territory of Zolotaya Balka, which is very popular in Crimea and Sevastopol. It is better to book tables in it in advance. And from the roof of the champagne plant, where the tasting room and the company store are located, there are beautiful views of the plant’s vineyards.
Golden Balka sparkling wines cost from 439 R, ordinary still wines — from 505 R, premium line — from 1540 R.
| Zolotaya Balka also holds cool festivals in Crimea — the musical ZB Fest and the wine and gastronomic Winefest | My favorite activity at Winefest is to crush grapes with my feet |
Zolotaya Balka also holds cool festivals in Crimea — the musical ZB Fest and the wine and gastronomic Winefest My favorite entertainment at Winefest is crushing grapes with your feet
Garbage in Germany — How to Separate Household Waste
Waste recycling in Germany. What types of waste are there and how to properly dispose of it. History of recycling. Waste processing problems.
What is considered one hundred percent typical German? Punctuality, reliability, quality… German Shepherd! Or dirndl — a woman’s dress in a German national costume. Yes, definitely!
But here’s how the Germans relate to the collection and processing of garbage can shock any ignorant foreigner. There can be no doubt about it.
It’s exactly typical German.
Disposing of garbage in Germany is not easy
The burghers sort the garbage before throwing it away. Every German house has its own trash cans. Each apartment has at least three containers for collecting garbage. And sometimes it’s eight.
Typical multicolored German office waste bins
Paper should be thrown into one container, thick cardboard from packages into another, plastic bottles into the third, cans into the fourth, and so on. The categories of garbage in each case vary. Three garbage cans may not be enough. Even outdoors, trash cans often have multiple compartments for different types of waste.
Often in the houses of Bavaria there is a picture: the hostess of the house takes an empty package from kefir, throws the lid from it (foil) into one bucket, then tears off the paper wrapper from the package and puts it in another bucket, and throws the package itself (plastic) into the third .
There are actually several garbage collection systems. Which one applies in a particular house depends on the land where the house is located, and on the company with which the owner of the house has concluded a contract for garbage collection. Yes Yes. Ordinary household waste in Germany cannot be disposed of in a large trash can. A set of containers of different colors is assigned to each building.
Waste recycling is expensive. On average, the export is paid 20-50 euros per month. But there is a way to cut costs by sorting «the rest of the garbage» into different containers. In some states, such as in Bavaria, the burghers are forced to do this. A migrant needs to learn the rules for sorting waste in rented accommodation in order not to make mistakes.
With the simplest system, you need to throw food waste into one tank, all the rest of the garbage into the other, but … It still needs to be determined what the rest of the garbage is.
For example, bottles. After drinking a bottle of wine, a Russian will easily throw it into the general trash. In Germany, this is strictly prohibited. All glass must be collected in a special box at home. Once every two weeks, the box should be taken out into the street on a special day, and a special glass cleaner at seven in the morning will empty the box with a terrifying roar. Another option is a common glass box for several apartments. In big cities, glass is taken out into large containers.
Sperrmüll — how to throw away old furniture and household appliances in Germany
The days are also defined when old household appliances and other products made of complex materials appear near the doors of German houses. Furniture made of wood and plastic is thrown away separately. If you just put unnecessary things on the street near the house, the garbage collectors will not take it away. Garbage trucks work on schedule, but in addition to the daily plan, there is a route plan. Driving through the streets of the city in search of exhibited unnecessary things is inefficient. In order to notify a recycling company that they want to throw away an old refrigerator, the Germans have to call and register.
2-3 cubic meters of waste is taken free of charge per person per year. Larger quantities require payment. Therefore, throwing unnecessary things into other people’s heaps of spermule is a risky undertaking.
In big cities, old things are thrown away differently. There, on the designated day, the inhabitants of the surroundings pull old junk to empty places near the houses. There are imposing mountains. If, for example, you have a move and need to throw away a bunch of old furniture, and even not within the time specified in the booklet, for 50 € a container will be brought to the house that can be filled to capacity.
Expose thrown out in the evening, ahead of time. Scavengers start working early, from five in the morning. On the night before the removal of the exhibited, the poor easily take away unnecessary things for themselves. The Germans prudently do not break working things. For example, if the cord on an old TV is cut off, it means that it has broken and can no longer be used.
If the cord is in place, the TV is working. About 10 years ago, it was possible to furnish a poor man’s apartment with used but working equipment for free. But with the advent of online auctions, good things have almost ceased to be put on the street.
What can I say, even Germans can only throw away Christmas trees once a year. If you forgot to throw it away, you will have to dispose of it yourself. But throwing away with other types of garbage is prohibited — they will be fined.
How clothes and shoes are thrown away in Germany
Dispose of old clothes and shoes separately. For this, special containers are placed near shops or near parking lots. This is not about the method of disposal, but about helping poor countries. Things thrown out in this way undergo special processing, and then sent to new owners. Which is better given to the Red Cross organization or sent to the Society for the Blind. The rest is sent to help poor countries. On such containers it is written for what purpose things are collected, where they will be put later and what exactly is needed.
Unused shoes and clothing should be wrapped in a bag and placed in one of these containers
Sometimes small containers are placed right under the doors of residential buildings. It is very comfortable. You can conduct a complete audit of shoes and clothes, children’s toys, cutlery, put unnecessary things in a bag and throw them away without leaving your home.
Collections of used clothes and shoes in Germany take place regularly
How to live with it
The timetable for the arrival of trucks for various garbage can be found in the book that the waste processing company sends to the Germans by mail once a year, or on the city’s website. From the same booklet you can find out exactly what types of waste should be sorted garbage.
Very often, in order to avoid red tape, the Germans try to get rid of garbage at the stage of purchases. There are containers near grocery or furniture stores so that customers can immediately throw away packaging materials.
Beer or soft drink bottles must be returned to the store. After all, for these containers, a deposit is taken from the buyer — pfand: for a glass beer bottle — 8 cents, for plastic 15 or 25, and for cans — always 25. Some manufacturers even attract buyers by releasing drinks in pfand-free packaging. But these drinks are more expensive.
Can the Germans be called a little crazy about this? Hard to say. After all, such a waste collection system greatly simplifies recycling. And the recycling of recycled materials saves resources. In addition, there is a direct connection with the concern for the environment. After all, it is necessary to dispose, for example, cardboard and plastic in completely different ways.
I think it is unlikely that anywhere else, except in Germany, such a system would really take root. But the Germans are accustomed to the strictness of order, a couple of extra rules will not frighten them. But it is not easy for foreigners to get used to such an attitude towards garbage.
Often desperate to understand the waste-recycling system, immigrants begin to throw garbage into bins at random. Then they fine the whole house, raising the tariff for garbage collection. In the event of a relapse, scavengers may refuse to pick up waste altogether. With such a system, neighbors quickly teach new arrivals how to properly dispose of garbage.
Sometimes it’s not entirely clear where exactly to throw away a half-empty bottle of nail polish or a bottle of cleaners and disinfectants. Lacquer or paint residues, as well as cleaning agent residues, must not be disposed of with normal waste. Of course, from a single bottle there will be no harm to the environment. But hundreds of thousands of improperly disposed items end up in landfills. Therefore, waste collection sites — Sonderabfall — are organized in German cities. Refrigerators, motor oil, old computers, batteries or chemicals are rented there.
Sometimes garbage is thrown out somewhere in the forest outside the city.
This is already a crime against the environment. Then they write about it in the newspapers, talk on the radio and show it on TV. The police open a case, and if the criminal is caught, he is indicatively fined for an impressive amount. Sometimes they can be sentenced to correctional labor. If the caught person turned out to be a foreigner, then, among other things, he can easily be deprived of a visa. So everyone should take garbage disposal seriously in Germany.
On average, a burgher produces 450 kilograms of garbage per year
Meticulous Germans have calculated how much garbage «produces» on average one person in Germany. Each adult burgher throws out an average of 450 kilograms per year!
Waste management in Germany
In Germany, garbage is disposed of.
Every year the process of waste disposal becomes more problematic and more difficult due to the increase in the proportion of plastic and other synthetic materials.
In the Middle Ages, people threw waste into the street or piled garbage on the territory of cities. The German streets of that time were dirty, but the garbage consisted of organic matter. It slowly rotted and decomposed on its own. After an outbreak of plague in the late Middle Ages, the Germans suddenly noticed that disease and sanitation were linked. Many cities have introduced new requirements for residents in matters of basic hygiene. Potsdam, for example, in 1660 obliged the city government to clean the streets forcibly, since Elector Friedrich Wilhelm made the city a second residence. The street sweeper drove the cart through the city, and the citizens unloaded waste into it.
120 years ago in the big cities of Germany organized a systematic garbage collection. Waste from households was taken to landfills or burned in the open.
The first real waste incineration plant was put into operation in 1896 in Hamburg, when there was not enough space for a garbage dump.
Modern incinerators have a good reputation for ridding modern society of mountains of garbage while emitting relatively few toxic emissions into the atmosphere. But commissioned by the international environmental organization Greenpeace, they conducted a study. The problem was carcinogenic dioxins — organochlorine compounds formed during the burning of household waste. Dioxins, suppressing the immune system and intensively influencing the processes of cell division and specialization, provoke the development of oncological diseases.
Waste that is not incinerated is taken to a landfill. The first German Waste Disposal Act of 1972 decided to close the “wild dumps” where every small village in Germany dumped its garbage. Central dumps are “time bombs”. In such «polygons» the layers of soil under the piles of rubbish are not sufficiently sealed.
Rain, seeping through the waste, washes away toxic substances, which are then absorbed into the soil, polluting groundwater. Landfill capacity is limited. After reaching a certain height, the landfill is decommissioned and mothballed. Without supervision, such «canned food» is a risk to the environment and to future generations.
Garbage and consumer society
But it’s not enough just to properly dispose of garbage, you need to try to create it as little as possible! The trouble with modern Germans is that they live in an era of consumption, and society today has a “disposable mentality”: burghers consume without thinking about the need to purchase, they constantly buy new things and thoughtlessly throw away old ones. Demand generates supply, a similar trend is observed in the production of goods: things do not tend to do as before, for centuries. This will increase the cost of the product and reduce demand. Most buyers in Germany want to buy clothes, furniture or appliances that are short-lived, less durable, but affordable.
Now it is considered the norm to get rid of unnecessary, but still fulfilling the function of things. Electronics becomes obsolete after a few months, as it does not correspond to the spirit of the times and quickly becomes irrelevant. Repair of clothes or shoes — which German is doing this now?
Due to industrial production, goods are produced at a low price, which makes new acquisitions possible. Overproduction and consumption! Previously, household items survived several generations. Decades ago, a chest of drawers, an armchair or a desk were inherited from their ancestors. Now affordable furniture in Germany is unlikely to survive one move.
China aggravated the situation with the processing of German waste
By the end of 2017, a significant amount of plastic waste was shipped from Germany to China, where it was partially recycled. However, in 2018, the Chinese government first restricted the import of recycled plastic waste and then completely banned it.
Since January 2018, China has imposed a ban on the purchase of waste for recycling from other countries. In Germany, there is a problem of excess waste.
The introduction of a ban on the import of waste in China has torn the covers off a very pressing problem — Germany, like the rest of the EU, lacks the technology and capacity to get rid of its own garbage.
Until the beginning of 2017, German waste processing companies worked like this: glass and paper were recycled, since their separation is the easiest for German residents. Everything else was mostly sorted and exported to China. Chinese workers sorted Europe’s waste manually and used it in processing for raw materials. The garbage left in Germany was burned as fuel, for example, in cement plants. 87% of the plastic thrown away in the EU was previously recycled in China.
The biggest problem in terms of waste is plastic products. The Germans are European leaders in the production and use of plastic packaging for goods and products.
Moving away from plastic in food production is difficult. Sealed packaging protects food from bacteria and drying out, adding little to no weight to the final product. What is good for food is bad for the environment. Packaging materials are heterogeneous, it is impossible to separate hard plastic from polyethylene film, and it is expensive to recycle without separating. Waste processing has remained at the level of the last century, and plastic manufacturers have gone far ahead.
Despite numerous discussions in German society, the production of plastic packaging is only increasing, and the mountains of garbage are growing.
Reports and discussions in the media about the negative effects of plastic production do not currently have any impact on the market. The number of bags and plastic bottles, as well as packaging film, has grown especially strongly.
As a result, 50% of plastic waste in Germany is now simply incinerated. The energy released during combustion does not cover the cost of producing the same amount of plastic, that is, it is unprofitable by definition.
