
What is Pfand? the Ransom Price for Real Glass
You see, I really don’t like drinking out of plastic cups. And it’s not just that I hate the feel in my mouth, or that it makes wine and beer taste different. It’s the sheer WASTE. Look around you after a festival or gathering. Trashcans overflowing with paper plates and plastic cups. Our landfills are choking with this garbage.
What is Pfand?

In Germany, at a festival, you go to the counter for your Beer and Schnitzel, and they charge you a few extra Euros on top of the cost of the food and drink. This is a PFAND. When you are done eating and drinking, you return the plate and beer glass (and silverware… imagine, real silverware, and not flimsy plastic to cut your meat!) and get your money back. The dishes are then washed for the next person. It’s very efficient.
I can see some of you looking for flaws in the Pfand system, so let me clear up a few issues.
Using a Pfand is a great system. The Vendors get their tableware and glasses back…. And I get to drink my wine out of real glass.
Perfect.
Another use of Pfand…
True, here in the US we offer money to people who recycle their bottles and cans at recycling centers… but how many people really bother? Here where I live it’s mostly vagrants or elderly people digging through the recycling bins the night before trash collection, and no one is getting rich off of it. If we made the amount high enough to feel it, perhaps more people would be careful to take advantage.
I would happily pay a Pfand at a festival or event… just to drink from a real glass, eat from a real plate, and NOT have to use plastic cutlery!




Hi, I’m from Germany and I live in Berlin. I love your writing about Pfand and I think it’s a good thing for our environment, but also for some people. In big cities like Berlin you can see so called “Pfandsammler”. These people often have a small income, no job or are asylum seekers. They search the dustbins and the streets for bottles with Pfand. So we often sacrifice bottles when we go out so we don’t have to take the bottles home and somebody else will get the money.
In big cities we likely park the Pfand beside the dustbin so Pfandsammler don’t have to stick their arms into the dustbins. It’s working pretty good, you don’t see many bottles or coca cola cans (cans also have pfand!) on german streets.
Sometimes you even see things like this: http://www.derwesten.de/img/incoming/crop8373773/599335537-cImg0273_543-w616-h225/Pfandring.jpg
We have people digging through the recycling bins here too. I try to leave my bottles by the side of the can for them.
The Pfand system does keep the streets cleaner.
We lived in Kerzell (Landkreis Eichenzell) for a year and a half before moving to Wildflecken. We were about 8 km from the Will Bier brewery in Motten. We had weekly deliveries of bier, Kraftmaltz and Apfelsaft. We paid a pfand with every delivery. We REALLY liked Will Bier! Wish we could get it here in California!
Is this it? looks like it’s not available anymore
http://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/3291/7853/?ba=RoyalT
This is a great idea. I live in Maine and we have a deposit paid on all beverage containers except for milk. You hardly ever see bottle left laying around because someone will always take them to turn in and get 5 cents. That might not seem like much but when you save them for awhile it can add up. Now if only they would reuse the bottles instead of recycling. Bottles use to be reused until they were chipped or broke altogether. Kids sports teams will have bottle drive to raise money for their team. My son’s team once raise over $1,500 in one day.
NICE!!!