Paper, card and cardboard

Put them in the paper bin at your premises

In Heidelberg it is possible to dispose of paper, card and cardboard using paper bins located at your own premises. The paper bins are emptied every two weeks and are free of charge for users of the basic service (Teilservice).

If you ever produce more paper, card or cardboard than can fit in your bin, you can simply take the excess to one of the city’s recycling yards.

Disposal of waste paper

Heidelberg’s Office of Waste Management and Municipal Cleansing has offered a special paper bin for business premises, available in sizes from 240 to 1100 liters. The bin, which is for paper, card and cardboard, is free of charge for users of the basic service (Teilservice), and is emptied two-weekly. For an additional fee, companies can have the bin put out and taken back in for them.

Collection of paper bundles in main shopping streets

As there is often not enough room for a sufficiently large bin in the city's main shopping streets, a collection of paper bundles is offered here. This collection takes place weekly from 6 am in the city center and adjoining shopping streets, and two-weekly elsewhere in the city. The paper bundle collection takes place on the same day as the paper bins are emptied, even if the emptying day has been postponed due to a public holiday. There is no need to register for this service.

Bundling your waste paper for collection

Bundle your waste paper and cardboard in such a way that they can be easily picked up, and place them by the edge of the road.
The collection of the bundles takes place on the same day that the regular paper bins are emptied, even if the emptying day has been postponed due to a public holiday.
Collection takes place any time after 10 am on streets with weekly collection, or any time from 6 am on streets with two-weekly collection.
You must remove any other materials, e.g. plastic or metal, that have become mixed in with the paper. To prevent the paper from becoming wet or dirty overnight, you should ideally only put it out on the morning of the collection day. Since 2009 it has not been necessary to register for collections of bundled paper.

Businesses can alternatively take old paper, cardboard, and a whole series of other recyclables, to the recycling yards in Wieblingen and Kirchheim.

Collection and processing of used paper in Heidelberg – background information

In Heidelberg, old paper and cardboard are collected by municipal waste collectors. Everything collected is sorted, compacted into large bales, and sent to various paper factories.
Packaging materials make up 25 percent of the total paper collected. This portion is passed to the relevant contractors, via the ‘dual system’ of waste collection (Duales System Deutschland). The remaining 75 percent are marketed on behalf of the City of Heidelberg.

In 2012 the people of Heidelberg collected an impressive 12,198 tonnes of paper waste – or around 81 kilograms per person. This is roughly the same as the German average.