Autumnal silence has returned to the district’s allotment gardens. After the five-month garden season, the bower pipits quickly dig again before hibernation, trim their fruit trees or harvest the last cabbage vegetables.
Decisions are a long time coming
Things have also become noticeably quiet on the garbage front. For months last year, the tenants – supported by the district council opposition – argued with the district administration over the compulsory connection of the allotment gardens to the central waste disposal, which was decided in February 2023. Various protests, collections of signatures, reports, petitions and demonstrations finally culminated in the spring of this year in the founding of the voting community “Allotment Gardeners and Settlers – Residents of Rural Areas” (kus), which even found its way into the new district council with Ulli Hannemann.
Hannemann is still dissatisfied when it comes to the disposal of household waste from the allotment areas. Many clubs have been waiting for their decisions from the Office for Water Management and District Development for more than a year, says the 60-year-old, who maintains a plot of land himself in the Greifswald Rosental Garden Club. Overall, however, the excitement seems to have subsided, which ultimately resulted in garbage fees of 6.56 euros per garden season for each allotment.
Connecting to a garbage disposal also has advantages
The dispute has probably been resolved in many places because around one in five garden clubs has now received an exemption from charging garbage fees, for example because all tenants have a registered residence nearby and take their garbage home with them every evening. In addition, several garden areas are currently not accessible to large waste disposal vehicles.
According to the district administration, of the 205 allotment garden divisions, 22 clubs have so far been completely exempted from the obligation to dispose of waste. Applications for exemptions were partially approved for a further 16 clubs. Several applications are still to be examined during agreed site visits. Ten applications were rejected and five others were withdrawn.
Numerous garden associations have now spoken out in favor of connecting to central waste disposal, especially because this would eliminate both the green waste tax and the costs for bulky waste disposal. So far, 49 garden clubs have received full access. This summer they made 16 collection appointments with the waste disposal companies and disposed of a total of around 240 cubic meters of bulky waste or green waste. 87 waste containers with a volume of 20 to 1,100 liters have now been set up in the facilities for residual waste.
