Germany is located in central Europe and has a highly developed economy with a population of 82.67 million (2016), a land area of ​​357,000 square kilometers and a population density of 236.9 people per square kilometer (2016). According to published statistics, the recycling rate of domestic waste in Germany is the highest in developed countries. For example, in 2016, the per capita domestic garbage production in Germany was 627 kg, of which 195 kg per capita incineration, 9 kg per capita landfill, and the rest Recycling, domestic garbage recycling rate reached 66.1% (see Table 1 below). Such high recycling rate of domestic garbage is not only proud of Germany, but also often envied in China. To understand how German household waste recycling is formed, you need to understand its statistical caliber and calculation method. There are two indicators for the recycling rate of domestic waste in Germany. One is the recycling rate of waste materials, waste paper, waste plastics, scrap metal, waste glass, and biomass waste for aerobic composting and anaerobic digestion. Statistics for material recycling; another indicator is comprehensive recycling utilization, comprehensive recycling includes material utilization and energy utilization, so that not only the recycling statistics of the above materials are recycled, but also the waste incineration treatment that meets certain waste heat utilization standards. Comprehensive recycling of waste, so that the comprehensive recycling rate of domestic waste in Germany is very high, for example, it reached 83% in 2012.

Germany's domestic waste recycling rate has remained above 60% since 2007, ranking the top in the world. In contrast, Japan's domestic garbage recycling level is also in the forefront of the world, and the classification and recycling level is even higher than that of Germany. However, the recycling rate of domestic garbage materials has remained at around 20% since 2007. Is the recycling rate of domestic waste materials really so high? Let's take a simple analysis of the 2016 domestic garbage statistics in Germany. In Germany, the amount of domestic waste generated in 2016 was 51.6 million tons, and the actual waste incineration treatment was 29 million tons. (The material recycling is only 16.1 million tons. This part of the garbage is mainly domestic garbage directly into the garbage incineration plant, and does not include all kinds of garbage. The secondary waste produced by the sorting treatment plant and the garbage recycling facilities, such as German lightweight packaging, is generally separately collected, but these packaging wastes are incinerated by the waste incineration plant because there is no demand, but in statistics, All of these packaging wastes are counted for recycling.) Recycling 22.6 million tons, including 11 million tons of household kitchen waste and garden waste from gardens and parks, are 4.2 million tons and 6.8 million tons respectively. Germany's real living garbage material recycling rate: 2260/5160 = 44%. If the recycling of biomass waste is not counted, the recycling rate of actual domestic waste materials is: 1160/5160=22%, and the recovery rate is similar to that of Japan. Considering that most of our families do not have gardens, and there are many German family gardens and parks, if we do not count this part of the garbage, the recycling rate of German household waste materials is (1160+420)/5160=30.6%, so 30% of domestic waste in Germany Recycling utilization is the indicator that China can refer to.