Valuables exchange: the wait is over

Created: 04/18/2022, 21:14

By: Nicole Kalenda

Mirrors, children's wheelbarrows, folding chairs: Günther Riermaier had hardly opened the materials exchange for the first time in two years during Holy Week when the shelves were already filling up.

© Michael Schönwalder

The first corona lockdown in March 2020 meant the end for the Planegger materials exchange.

It remained closed for more than two years due to the pandemic - and was sorely missed.

Now it's open again.

Planegg

- "The best recycling is to reuse things," says Günther Riermaier, manager of the Planegger recycling center.

A quarter of a century ago, when Riermaier had only been in office for a year, the materials exchange was set up on the site at Münchner Straße 99.

Since then, well-preserved and usable objects have ended up in a small hall, which the citizens of Planegg and Martinsried found too good to throw away, but can no longer use themselves.

Those who live in the municipality can take them with them free of charge.

Bedside tables, dining tables, TV base cabinets, sofas: "Everything that is overall and obviously good," says Riermaier, is accepted.

Books are also popular.

A whole wall of shelves stood in the back of the hall until it was closed, "almost a small exchange library".

Meeting place for "stock exchange enthusiasts"

Over the years, the stock exchange has developed into a meeting point.

The recycling center is open on Tuesdays, Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays.

Some come every four days to browse the hall.

"We call our regular guests stock exchange traders," says Riermaier.

If they could, they would watch, check, touch and chat with like-minded people from the moment the recycling center opens until it closes.

But the recycling center team put a stop to this.

"We have limited the stay to half an hour a day," says Riermaier.

The fact that the exchange is so popular was the reason for the long closure.

Due to the high risk of infection posed by the corona virus, only five to seven cars were allowed on the site of the recycling center at the same time.

Just to ensure disposal, the main task of the facility on the outskirts of Martinsried, was little.

In terms of time and logistics, it was not possible to admit visitors to the materials exchange, which as a hall also poses a higher risk of infection.

"I've never had so many inquiries about one thing," says Riermaier.

Citizens kept calling and asking when the stock exchange would open again, so for two years the phone rang every few days.

Cleared out and cleaned from scratch

Since the elimination of almost all corona measures at the beginning of April, access to the site is no longer restricted.

So it was decided to revive the stock market.

"It's also associated with a lot of trouble, but environmental considerations prevail," says Riermaier.

Again and again there are discussions about who saw what first.

"You also have to keep them away from the cars." Anyone who parks their car in front of the hall will be asked about one or the other part in it, even if they may have just bought it themselves and don't want to get rid of it.

"Actually, at least two to three people would only have to take care of the stock market," says Riermaier.

But she runs alongside.

Ideally, there are five to six employees at the recycling center during opening hours, with the exception of Riermaier and his deputy, all of them come from the Rainbow Work gGmbH.

No e-waste

When it was foreseeable that the stock exchange would remain closed longer, the hall was cleared out and everything disposed of.

"That was an opportunity to do a thorough cleaning." Now Riermaier is certain that the shelves will fill up again in no time at all.

Because it's difficult to control, the employees have to clear away things that don't belong there.

E-waste for example.

"Anything with a cable or battery must not be passed on for safety reasons." As a result, goods that were originally packaged, such as a toy car or a flashlight, are sometimes removed after Christmas.

"Our experience tells us what is taken and what is not," says Riermaier.

Sometimes the citizens who come with their treasures that are no longer needed cannot be convinced of their slow-moving quality.

Then the employees of the recycling center take the path of least resistance.

Riermaier: "We accept it and dispose of it afterwards."