City explains Saturday closures at Munich recycling centres and sets out measures to keep them open

Munich's municipal waste management company, AWM, has set out why some of its recycling centres have unexpectedly closed on Saturdays in recent months, and what it is doing about it. The explanation came from Dr Alexander Dietrich, head of the city's municipal department, in reply to a question submitted on 2 September 2026 by city councillor Manuel Pretzl of the CSU group. Mr Pretzl had reported that many residents found centres shut and had to go elsewhere, only to find those sites overcrowded too, and that people could not check online on the day whether a centre was open or how busy it was.

AWM said it takes the inconvenience seriously but that reliable operation depends on factors it cannot always control, or not at short notice. Building works and traffic disruption across the city can delay the collection or exchange of full containers. Once a site has no more capacity to accept waste, temporary restrictions become necessary for safety and operational reasons. Visitor numbers have also become concentrated on Fridays, Saturdays and Mondays since last summer, possibly because of the weather, and this pattern has persisted. Adjusting staff rotas, cover arrangements and supervision to match takes time to organise.

This summer's exceptionally high temperatures put a heavy strain on the physically demanding outdoor work and led to more short-notice staff absences. AWM said it has a duty to protect the health of its employees. Fires at some recycling centres have also disrupted operations, with clean-up, technical inspections and repairs needed afterwards.

To keep sites open, especially on Saturdays, when deliveries rose significantly this summer, AWM says it is providing enough container capacity and collecting more often, running extra shifts on critical Saturdays and around public holidays, in some cases with overtime for drivers, and emptying sites in advance of the busiest Saturdays. Managers will also have a greater presence at the centres from October 2026 to improve how things run.

To reduce the risk of fire, AWM is urging residents never to put batteries, particularly lithium batteries, pressurised gas canisters, chemicals, fireworks or other hazardous items into compactor containers or the wrong collection bins. These should always be handed in separately at the designated points or directly to staff.

AWM has also been looking for some time for a site for a fourth "Plus" recycling centre in the south or south-east of Munich, to ease pressure on the heavily used centres at Bayerwaldstraße and in Thalkirchen, but has not yet found a suitable plot. It said it cannot guarantee that no site will ever face short-notice restrictions, but aims to keep such situations to a minimum.