Waste collection
The collection of used materials was already of considerable importance in the First World War in order to compensate for lost raw material import sources . Introduced in Germany at the beginning of the Second World War under the supervision of the Reich Commissioner for Old Material Utilization as the procurement of secondary raw materials by school children.
In the GDR the waste material collection took place as the partly organized, partly private collection and sale of waste paper , deposit-free bottles and glasses. But scrap (since 1973) and old clothes were also bought up, and lead-acid batteries were even a prerequisite for buying a new one. The official name of the old materials was "secondary raw materials".
The collection of old materials was particularly promoted in schools . Children and young people should be introduced to the careful use of resources; often they earn a little pocket money with such collections. However , collections of entire pioneer groups or school classes organized by the pioneer organization were also carried out on a larger scale , the proceeds of which were donated or the class fund benefited.
Central collection points (" SERO ") bought the old materials, and some of them were also delivered to SERO via private intermediaries. For a bottle or a glass of 100 cm³ or more, 0.05 M was paid, for undamaged standardized canning jars and spirits bottles up to 0.30 M. In the case of organized collections, the acceptance price increased, e.g. B. for waste paper per kilogram from 0.20 m to 0.25 m.
The waste material collections were a source of important raw materials for some branches of industry. For example, around 40 percent of the waste materials used in the paper industry and around 60 percent in the food and beverage industry.
