Cities are fighting street waste with extra taxes. Tübingen is a pioneer: coffee cups and other disposable packaging are taxed in the university city.
Around 4,500 kilos of waste are collected in Freiburg every day and are simply thrown away. The tax is expected to bring at least two million euros into the Breisgau city's coffers every year. Other municipalities in the state are also considering a packaging tax in order to deal with mountains of garbage, as the Baden-Württemberg City Council reported upon request.