According to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Act (ElektroG), electrical and electronic equipment may not be disposed of with the usual household waste.
The public waste disposal providers (districts and independent cities) are obliged to take back old electrical appliances from the citizens free of charge and to pass them on to the responsible manufacturers and distributors for further treatment and recycling or to recycle them themselves.
In most districts and independent cities, large appliances are taken along for bulky waste collection or separately and the small electrical appliances can be handed in at the collection points. Many retailers also take back old equipment in the shops.
The disposal is financed by the citizen already at the time of purchase of the product, so that the disposal must then be free of charge for the citizen (product responsibility).