Recycling
Everyone wins
Properly-sorted recyclable waste can be fed back into production processes. This conserves precious natural resources, and protects the environment.
Never has it been so easy for residents to sort their recyclable waste. Heidelberg households can dispose of biowaste, plastic and metal packaging, and paper and cardboard, in bins right by their homes. All other recyclables can simply be taken – often free of charge – to the nearest recycling yard.
Recycling bins for everyone
Whether you live in a detached house or a large apartment building, the City of Heidelberg can provide you with the recycling bins you need. The bins are color-coded: Brown for biowaste, blue for paper and cardboard, and yellow for metal and plastic packaging.
To learn what goes in which bin, download our guide to sorting waste,which is available in a variety of languages.
Five recycling yards across the city
The City of Heidelberg operates five recycling yards: Two large ones in the districts of Kirchheim and Wieblingen, and three smaller ones in Emmertsgrund, Handschuhsheim and Ziegelhausen.
Aside from recyclables, the two larger recycling yards also accept pollutants, bulky items, tires, flat glass, electricals, and larger loads of green waste. The smaller recycling yards, because of their size, are more limited in what they can accept, and cannot accept bulky items, flat glass, or large electrical items.
The two central recycling yards (Wieblingen and Kirchheim) accept a very wide range of waste.