Germany's holy recyclers.(Scan)

In Germany, recycling has virtually been turned into a state-mandated religion. Green Party officials sprinkled throughout local government have written the hymns. Now all citizens must sing along. And the music is not easy.

All glass disposed of by Germans must be sorted into separate bins for green, brown, and clear varieties. Paper (newspapers, magazines, waste paper, paper bags, etc.) belongs in green bins. You're not to leave any plastic wrappers on boxes (which must be flattened). "Composite" materials, such as beverage cartons, go in the special yellow bin.

Biological waste like kitchen scraps, peels, leftover food, coffee grounds, and other biodegradable material must be collected--but not in plastic bags, only in paper bags (which inevitably leak). The government encourages its citizens to put this on a compost pile, but if they can't, then it goes in a gray bin--along with diapers, tissues, ash, cigarette butts. Everything in the gray bins is burned.

Wastes like old paint, disinfectants, insecticides, fluorescent light bulbs, etc. have to be brought to a special site. Old batteries are to be deposited in containers at local shopping areas.

This all takes time. It takes space. It takes energy.

Recently, further efforts were launched in Germany on behalf of this ecological religion. A 30-cent deposit was put on every can or non-refillable bottle, no matter the size. It seems that even the conscientious Germans weren't always bothering to return their cans and bottles with lower deposit levels. To get the new deposit back you have to return all bottles, with the caps, to the same store where you bought them. With the receipt! If you bought your six-pack on the road, you're out a couple of bucks.

Don't look for consistency in the application of this ecological gospel. An apple juice and mineral-water mix has a deposit, but apple juice alone doesn't. The same distinction applies for iced tea, as opposed to carbonated iced tea.