[titzer]

Germany is relatively clean, and Switzerland and Japan. That's generally due to a lower overall prevalence of littering and actually having effective government-run pickups. But stray from places that aren't picked up regularly and you'll see it. I've seen it everywhere I have been, including all over southern Germany. It's like a rule of the universe. Anywhere people go, they bring food with them, and the wrappers and bottles end up on the ground, in the bushes, in the streams. Single-use plastic for goodies--food, drink, cigarettes, etc--is the #1 kind of litter. Germany is no better than anywhere for cigarette butts, by the way. And cigarette butts are actually made out of plastic, for the most part.

Source: been picking up garbage all over the world for years.