i think germany has some sort of packaging or recycling tax.

for your products you can either arrange to take them back, or you pay a tax according to what would it cost to recycle.

for electronics for example that can't be fully recycled or put on a landfill or burned because of dangerous materials that tax should be accordingly higher.

Germany’s equivalent to US blue recycling bins is the yellow bin or yellow bag. It is exclusively for all kinds of wrapping and containers (except paper and glass) - because the disposal gets payed for by the producer of the product and wrapping. The same item (e.g. a plastic container or even a coat hanger) could go into the yellow bin or into regular garbage only depending on whether it came as packaging of another product or bought it standalone. The black “rest” garbage bins people need to pay fees for. It incentivizes producers to reduce wrapping or use materials that are more environmentally friendly like paper or glass. Most bottles (both plastic and glass) also don’t go into the garbage but are returned by consumers to the grocery stores for cash back (there are machines you just throw your bottles into and it spits out a receipt to cash in at the register).