Whatsit Wednesday: Kliko

Tomorrow is trash day in our street and we can put the trash container out. But we have to know which one to put out. And in our street we have trash containers, but not everywhere does trash the same way. We have two of what the Dutch would call “kliko’s” - large rolling containers to put trash sacks or trash in. These kliko’s can be rolled out to the street where the trash wagon comes and picks them up, emptying them before putting back on the street. 

In our village we have several different kinds of trash and different pick-up days. There is compostable trash which goes in the green kliko. Any food stuffs, grass clippings, old dead flowers, or weeds that I have picked out of the driveway can go in here. They pick this up once every two weeks, but we probably only put it on the street 2-3 times a year. 

The interesting thing to us is what is NOT allowed in the green container. One used to be able to put the coffee pads we use every day for our coffee. We use simple pads here, bot cups made of some sort of metal. But in more recent years they have made the pads from a sort of plastic, so we are no longer allowed to put them in the green kliko. Then there is the meat. Previously we were not allowed to put this in the green kliko, but now all food remains are allowed. 

The plastic, if it has been separated, goes in a blue sack. This blue sack can contain plastic wrapping and plastic containers, but also ‘bricks’ than contained juice or milk or other drink, as well as any metal containers or lids of glass jars. This blue sack (PMD for paper, metal and drink cartons) is collected once every two weeks with the green kliko. At least in our village. 

But in the Netherlands things could be completely different. Most recently the whole system has changed in Maastricht, where we meet on Sundays. There we have no kliko (because we are in a group of apartments). The other trash - the ‘rest’ - which cannot be recycled, used put into a red-white sack which everyone could purchase. This was placed on the street on a certain day where it was picked up. For many in the neighborhood this meant almost daily walks to the ‘milieu street’ to separate out recyclables and a pile of red-white sacks outside the building on trash day. 

But recently the pattern was changed. Now the milieu street is only for paper and glass. All PMD has to go into a sack (of another color) and placed on the street for pickup on a different day than the general trash (which is still in a red-white sack). This has happened because people were not separating their trash correctly and the costs of keeping the mile station clean was getting pretty high. 

The word “kliko” is, as far as I can figure, a Dutch word. It gained its name simply because these trash containers were made by a company called Kliko. In the same way a tissue might be called a “Kleenex”. For most Dutch families living in a house (not an apartment) it is also important to have a place to put the kliko. So the local hardware stores have special containers to contain the container - made of wood, or plastic or recycled plastic. And the good Dutchman can build it and keep his driveway or yard looking clean, hiding the kliko’s until it is time for them to be put out on the street. You can see good house fathers outside regularly cleaning the kliko, perhaps on different days of cleaning the car.