Kultur 6

I found the article about German "garbage-culture" to be most interesting.  Is the german system of highly specialized waste receptacles a reflection of the cultural tendency toward order or does it contribute in someway to a highy-developed recycling system? I think it is so wonderful that many European countries, and Northern European countries in particular, are so progressive in their thinking about the "go green" movement.  Two of my parent's good friends are from Germany and I remember them often making comments about how much unnecessary waste Americans create.  They would use far less tin-foil, plastic bags, and do all of their cleaning with washable rags instead of paper-towels.  I never noticed any highly detailed recycling practices though... I know that here in the States the "go green" movement is a fairly recent phenomenon, I wonder when/how it came about in Germany.  Americans have such an amazing wealth and diversity of natural resources, it's a shame that we don't utilize them in a more efficient manner.  Is the cost of heating/cooling your house/water/utilities bills much higher in Germany as a result?    Hopefully my generation will make more of an effort to learn from energy efficient and wast reduction methods that are currently common place in much of Europe.  Of all the attempts to become more "green" the most fascinating that I have ever read of is currently thriving in Germany's neighbor to the north: Denmark: http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-18563_162-2549273.html 
Germany is obviously much larger than the island of Samso, but I wonder if Samso's amazing success will inspire even greater "go-green" effort in Germany!