[wolfgke]

> do Germans seriously need to separate out green glass, clear glass, and brown glass bottles?

It is indeed done in Germany.

> Do Germans need to keep 7+ bins in their homes as well

At home in Germany there are four bins: paper, organic waste, residual waste, Green Dot (recyclable waste) - at some places the recyclable waste has to be put in yellow bags (Gelber Sack) instead. I have also seen cans for metal waste at large apartment buildings in the past.

In a typical residential district there is a central place where there are bottle banks for clear, brown and remaining (including green) glass from non-returnable bottles.

Here is an excerpt which makes fun of the complications of separating the garbage from the German comedy "Otto - Der Außerfriesische", where the main actor tries to convince the people that if you throw away a teabag you have to separate it into tealeaves (organic waste), paper, staple (scrap metal) and string (residual waste):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBPIPzGBxYE

[pieterr]

You probably mean: Otto - der Ostfriese.

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_Waalkes

EDIT: Ah, you're right, he made a film with that title: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_–_Der_Außerfriesische