Littering in Bonn's city centre Bonnorange sees citizens as responsible too
Bonn · Again and again, Bonn residents complain about increased littering in the city centre and think that the public order office and refuse collection are overburdened. Bonnorange emphasises that it has already increased the cleaning intervals - and also takes people to task.
Walter Stremmel has lived in Bonn since 1948. "I have never seen this city in such a desolate state. The affluent neglect of our society manifests itself in the dirt and rubbish on our streets," he says. A prime example of this, he says, was experienced by his wife, who runs a delicatessen on Martinsplatz. A large refrigerator next to her shop was not taken away by the bulky waste collection service and therefore stood on the square for a total of ten days, "despite several calls to the public order office and the Bonnorange citizens' hotline," Stremmel says.
In the meantime, the fridge had even been knocked over and was blocking the pavement. Only after a call to the waste disposal company's complaints department and three more days was the fridge removed. "The three previous calls to the public order office were for nothing," complains the Bonn citizen.
Bonnorange says they removed the fridge after four days
In response to a GA enquiry, the city's public order service said it either dealt with such requests itself or passed them on to Bonnorange. The latter seems to have happened in this case, as Jérôme Lefèvre, Bonnorange's press spokesman, also confirms. Four days had passed between being informed about the refrigerator and its removal. "We therefore acted swiftly to schedule the refrigerator in our tour for the collection of large electrical appliances so that it could be properly recycled," Lefèvre emphasises. The fact that the refrigerator was not taken away by the bulky waste collection is also correct, since it is an electrical appliance.
Regardless of the refrigerator, however, some citizens like Stremmel complain about a general increase in littering in the city. "When the organic market is set up early in the morning on Saturdays, the employees of the individual stalls first have to clean up the rubbish from the previous night. It is sad what has become of my home town," says Walter Stremmel.
Public order service sees a trend towards more waste paper in the city
The city's public order service also says it has noticed "an increased deposit of waste paper in some places", according to Isabel Klotz from the city's press office. And Jerome Lefèvre also reveals: "For some years now, the use of public spaces has been increasing strongly. Our colleagues in the city cleaning department are also noticing this." This effect is called Mediterraneanisation and leads to a higher cleaning effort. That is why the pedestrian zone in Bonn is now cleaned twice a day.
But the Corona pandemic in particular has "noticeably increased" the amount of to-go packaging. Places with a high volume of people, such as the banks of the Rhine, the Rheinaue and the Hofgarten, were particularly affected. For this reason, "almost 150 additional bins were set up to relieve the public wastepaper bins", explains Lefèvre. Since then, the employees have had to empty up to 140 more wastebaskets per tour. "This enormous achievement deserves recognition," he says.
However, a clean city is "a task that we can only accomplish together with the people of Bonn. Society must make its contribution," the press spokesman emphasises. Bonnorange therefore promotes waste avoidance in various ways, for example through the initiative "Bonn goes reusable".
(Original text: Marco Rauch; Translation: Mareike Graepel)
