Strike at Abfallwirtschaft Stuttgart (AWS) from Wednesday, March 12 up to and including Friday, March 14, 2025

As soon as the union ends the strike, all strikers resume work.

We will take all strike-related excess quantities after the strike free of charge. Everything at once - we can’t do that even if we join forces. Over 600,000 people live in Stuttgart. They all produce waste, organic waste and have recyclable materials such as waste paper to dispose of. As you can imagine, after a strike it takes time for everything to get back to normal.

We take away the strike-related excess quantities free of charge. We dispose of excess quantities that have nothing to do with the strike if this waste is placed in municipal waste bags at the roadside for a fee. And, of course, also via special emptying for a fee.

• Collection of municipal waste and recycling containers
• Collection of bulky waste
• Recyclables and hazardous waste mobile
• Recycling centers
• Landfill site
• Street cleaning
• Winter service
• Public toilet facilities
• Customer service

AWS empties around 30,000 tons per day, spread over around 60 tours. This is the daily workload that we can regularly process in eight hours with the existing employees and vehicles. An additional collection day (catch-up Saturday) would be required per strike day to make up for the daily workload. According to the Federal Constitutional Court, however, the ordering of overtime due to strikes is not permitted. This means that it is not possible in this case to make up a full day’s work on Saturday - as is usual, for example, in the case of postponements due to public holidays.

The only remaining option is to make up work on the working day in regular operations, which is possible through additional “permissible” overtime - in exceptional cases, not regularly - of up to ten working hours per day. This overtime requires that people and vehicles are not absent due to other circumstances (illness, statutory overtime reduction, drivers’ driving/rest periods, vehicle breakdowns, etc.). In addition, the opening hours of the unloading points for organic waste, residual waste, waste paper and bulky waste must be observed. For these reasons, the AWS can unfortunately only gradually reduce the strike-related surpluses during the next collections.

External companies do not know the route plans and cannot provide the complex full service of AWS in Stuttgart from a standing start.

• Place excess quantities of waste in bags and paper packed in cardboard boxes or paper bags next to your collection bins.

• The AWS employees need free access to the garbage cans.

• Please store cardboard boxes and paper sacks in a dry place and only put them out on the day of collection. Wet cartons and cartons filled with paper may be too heavy or soggy and therefore unsuitable for handling.

• For health and safety reasons, AWS employees are not permitted to load the sacks and cardboard boxes loose into the collection vehicle. The paper sacks and cardboard boxes must therefore be designed to fit into the waste paper containers.

• Citizens can hand in larger quantities of waste paper and large cardboard boxes at the Stuttgart recycling centers

• Place excess quantities of waste in bags and paper packed in cardboard boxes or paper bags next to your collection bins.
• The AWS employees need free access to the garbage cans.
• Please store cardboard boxes and paper sacks in a dry place and only put them out on collection day. Wet cartons and cartons filled with paper may be too heavy or soggy and therefore unsuitable for handling.
• For health and safety reasons, AWS employees are not permitted to load the sacks and cardboard boxes loose into the collection vehicle. The paper sacks and cardboard boxes must therefore be designed to fit into the waste paper containers.
• Citizens can hand in larger quantities of waste paper and large cardboard boxes at the Stuttgart recycling centers

You can dispose of certain recyclable materials, such as waste paper and cardboard, at our recycling centers.

We will take the strike-related surpluses step by step on the next collection dates. For capacity reasons, it is not always possible to collect the surplus immediately. It will take a while for everything to be collected. Do not put the surplus out until the day of collection. Store cardboard boxes and paper bags in a dry place. As you can imagine, wet cardboard boxes filled with paper are sometimes too heavy to lift or fall apart and cannot be loaded.

Please leave the bulky waste ready for collection. We will of course collect any bulky waste left behind in the next few days.