🧊 #465: BER closed, Wedding to open, don't salt the walk

People are dying to get into Berlin (🥁).

Feb 06, 2026

I was in this while you were still in bed.

Hey 20 Percent!

The first requirement to become a trash person in Berlin? It’s apparently the ability to speak ultra-fluent Berlinerisch. I’ve been up since 4.30 this morning to give that job a try and I can now say it’s a much better job than we all think.

Shout out to Berlin Recycling (a unit of our BSR trash company) for kitting me out in recycling guy gear and allowing me to ride on a truck. Though, despite the name, we were collecting commercial garbage in Charlottenburg.

I’m now worn out but not from dragging dumpsters through icebergs, it’s from trying to keep up with the accent.

But the job involves getting a partner, a route and a very expensive truck and then it’s mostly up to you and your sidekick to decide how and when to complete it. The recycling crews were off yesterday because of ice so they can now either work an extra day or just make up for the lost day today and Monday — most were just hustling this morning to make up for the lost day.

No boss is checking your chat logs and there’s lots of chit-chat with people you meet along the route.

But that garbage smell? Yeah it stays in your nose. And your (employer-provided) clothes.

Have a good weekend — and, btw, Berlin Recycling is hiring!

Andrew

PS: Shout out to reader Christian Näthler who wrote this profile of St. George’s books, my go-to English bookstore for decades (our kids also went to school together). It’s a fun (slightly longish) read.

BER closed, Wedding open

We all know how slick last night’s raid made the city — but traffic is luckily light because kids are still off on winter vacation (my co-workers this morning mentioned this at every light). But the cold, wet weather led to the cancellation of just under half the flights at BER Thursday and most of the flights Friday, according to Tagesspiegel. Planes are supposed to begin taxiing out around mid-day again. But while BER is struggling, the S-Bahn will begin stopping in Wedding again Monday. The stop was closed after hooligans with fireworks set an office in the station alight on New Year’s, causing deeper structural damage.

Stinky Ausländerbehörde?

You know who apparently needs more garbage workers? The Ausländerbehörde. We’ve all said it’s trash but it’s also apparently drowning in the stuff. The Landesamt für Einwanderung (as it’s officially known) in Wedding is apparently infamous for broken toilet seats, uncleaned bathrooms and overflowing wastebaskets, according to Die Zeit. The employees there are oddly part of the Police union, which maybe explains their churlish attitude, and which is now pushing for improvements. The waiting rooms do seem excessively worn but I’ve never tested the reported smell of sewage in the bathrooms. They need to do better in every aspect, apparently.

To salt or not to salt

And you can now recycle that melting salt you bought: It is once again illegal to use melting agents such as salt to combat the current ice wave, according to Tagesschau. Berlin officials last Friday lifted a ban on personal use in hopes of getting the ice epidemic under control. But environmental do-gooders NABU sued, saying salt and other agents are bad for the environment as well as buildings. And an administrative court Wednesday agreed. So now we’re back to relying on landlords and the city-state of Berlin to clear sidewalks (not going to happen). Interior senator Ute Bonde (SPD) said she should have sought approval — and legal backing — from the parliament rather than just lifting the ban. Next time.

🍺 🥨 Germany-wide news 🥨 🍺

🚆😢 Train conductor dies after assault by Schwarzfahrer

💩 The new face of the far-right AfD

🏥 Hospitals also target of sabotage (Russia?)

💩 Amazon fined €59m

Factoid

You’d think people could just share watering cans at the *Friedhof* (cemetery). Photo: Rolf Dietrich Brecher via CC4.0

The ultimate Berlin recycling is getting buried here and having your body literally become part of the Hauptstadt. In 2024 (the last year for which statistics are available), 37,686 people died in Berlin, 2% fewer than in 2023, according to the Berlin-Brandenburg stats office. But how would you die? The most common causes of death were cardiovascular diseases, which accounted for just under 30%, followed by cancer, at 24% of all deaths. The most deaths were in Steglitz-Zehlendorf, which is odd because Pankow has the most people. Oddly, exactly 40 more women died than men.

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