In Germany, packaging waste goes into the Gelber Sack, the yellow bag. It is collected for private recycling systems, not by the city’s waste service. The city of Würzburg says so plainly: Der Gelbe Sack fällt nicht in die Zuständigkeit der Stadtreiniger. The yellow bag is not the responsibility of the city cleaners. A private firm is commissioned to collect it, and complaints go to that firm. When yellow bags were left lying on Stuttgart’s streets in January 2023, the city explained that it was nicht Auftraggeber der Abholung, not the party that had ordered the collection.