16 April 2008

Green Point... what is it, exactly?

I keep asking my husband, the German, what Green Point (Grune Punkt) is. He says that I think everything is green point and I guess I do: at least, everything that is metal, plastic, or coated paper. I am borne out in this belief because just about everything that is coated paper (boxes, in particular) has a green point symbol on it.

Last night, we damaged/broke an Ikea light. I think that the cover must be green point, as it is made of paper and metal. I don't know what I should do with the base. The German thinks I am insane and that the whole thing is garbage and that I should stop thinking everything is Green Point. Can anyone give me some guidance here?

4 comments:

Snooker said...

Christina @ An American Expat in Deutschland did a nice run-down (in English) on it once. But good luck! The best I can say is that at least you are making an effort. I just spent two minutes going through the trash here at the office (yes, I'm that kinda girl) pulling out the HUGE pieces of lunch packaging from the regular trash and putting it in the recyclables area. Geeze. And I'm the AMERICAN... you know, the group much maligned for their willingness to use things and just throw it away.

christina said...

Your husband is right - the whole light goes into the Hausmüll. The grüner Punkt stuff, things that go into the recycling bag or can, is basically recyclable *packaging* made from plastic, metal or coated paper. Most of it has the little symbol on it. Not that they actually ends up being recycled, but that's another story...

Gardner said...

I defer to the wise women above for the real answer to the question.

I just love your translation of Der Grüne Punkt - "the Green Point". I never thought of it that way, although that is correct.

G in Berlin said...

Snooker- Thanks, I did read that on Christina's site and I should print it out and put it on my wall.I really like recycling here. When I was back in the US I was really annoyed at how much plastic went into regular trash: we generate two to three bags of green point a week (seems to primarily be yogurt containers and vegetable wrappers).
Christina- I went into my yellow bag and pulled out the cover after reading your post. Bummer. All into regular garbage.It's interesting that acto other Christina (and my father-in-law) many of the paper items marked with green point should go into paper.
Gardner: I am basically afraid to write in German. I'm sure that I will mess up some ending. Also, this is an American keyboard, so I don't have any symbols such as umlauts.