Wheelie bin colours and their meaning

The usual colour code

In most German municipalities the rule is: grey (often anthracite, RAL 7021) stands for residual waste, blue for paper and cardboard, brown for organic waste, yellow for packaging and recyclables. Green is used differently from region to region – in some places for glass, in others for organic or garden waste.

Important: The allocation used by your local authority or waste disposal company is always what counts. Your council's waste regulations or collection calendar list the valid colours – check this before buying if the bin is to be used with the public collection service.

Grey bin, coloured lid

Instead of fully through-coloured containers, many councils use grey bins with a coloured lid – this makes reassignment easier and is often cheaper. We stock both variants: through-coloured bins in grey, blue, brown, yellow and green, as well as grey bodies with lids in all collection colours. Matching replacement lids are available individually – so a grey bin can become an organic or paper bin whenever needed.

Filtering by colour in the shop

In all waste bin and container categories you can filter specifically by colour using the filter on the left. For every size from 60 to 1,100 litres we keep the common municipal colours in stock – special colours are available on request.

Private use: any colour you like

For bins on your own property, in the workshop, stable or garden there are no rules – here clarity alone decides: if you store feed, pellets or bedding in bins, different lid colours keep things apart more reliably than labels.

As of: September 2026