Suche
Mein Konto
Hamburg increases garbage fees: citizens have to dig deeper into their pockets!
From January 2026, municipal fees for garbage and wastewater will increase in Hamburg. Households have to expect higher costs.
Hamburg increases garbage fees: citizens have to dig deeper into their pockets!
From January 1, 2026, Hamburg citizens will have to prepare for rising fees. The Senate has decided that garbage collection fees and the costs of wastewater disposal will increase noticeably. In addition to a 3.4% increase in fees for movable garbage cans, there will also be a sharp jump in 100 liter residual waste bags, which will climb by 16.7% to 3.50 euros. What is particularly noticeable is the 140% increase for the 100 liter leaf bags, which now cost 2.40 euros. Contrary to these price increases, bulky waste fees remain stable, while wastewater disposal fees also increased, specifically from 2.41 to 2.49 euros per cubic meter of dirty water and from 0.83 to 0.86 euros per square meter for rainwater. These rising fees are due to factors such as higher personnel and interest costs as well as increasing depreciation. As a result, city authorities expect an average additional expenditure of around 8 euros per household per year. This catalog of measures was approved by the Hamburg Senate on December 3, 2024, as ndr.de reports.
What are the reasons behind these price increases?
Inflation and higher collective wages play a central role, as Finance Senator Andreas Dressel (SPD) explains. In addition, the costs of cleaning sidewalks increase by an average of 5.6 percent, which means an additional 7.20 euros per year for a single-family home. This means that the additional expenses for waste disposal amount to a total of around 12 euros per year for an average household, including the disposal of rainwater via the municipal drain network, which costs another around 10 euros. These measures are intended to enable the city and its public companies to generate additional revenue in the double-digit million range.
Additional fee increases
It's not just waste disposal that costs are rising. The fees for the safekeeping of lost property and the misuse of living space will also be increased. While the fees for lost property are adjusted to the actual costs, Hamburg provides for an increase of up to 45% for the misuse of living space. However, the fees for cleaning public paths remain stable.
Compared to other cities, there are also significant differences in the fees for waste disposal in Hamburg. According to a study from North Rhine-Westphalia, garbage fees are increasing by an average of 2.5%. Some cities even recorded extreme increases, such as Mechernich with +30% or Herford with +16%. In Hamburg, however, the fee policy remains more cautious, which has not least to do with the critical voices of the Taxpayers' Association in North Rhine-Westphalia. These warn of an “additional calculation burden” from the municipalities. The annually increasing need for depreciation and new legal requirements also contribute to the cost increases, as can be found in wdr.de.
In summary, this means: The Hamburg city administration has shown a good hand in calculating fees, but citizens have to be prepared for a somewhat tighter budget. The coming years could therefore represent an interesting challenge for many families.