Why you simply put your garbage on the street in Hanover (almost)

This little guide gives answers to the most important questions of the first days. 

Register, change, inform 

Registration at your place of residence

© LHH

If you move to Germany, you must register at your new place of residence within two weeks. How does it work in Hanover? Since there is enough work to be done in the new four walls anyway, it is easy to make an appointment online or by telephone at a local public office. A confirmation of the landlord and the identity card must be brought along to the appointment. The registration rule also applies to dogs. 

Registration of a vehicle

Vehicles must be registered with the vehicle registration authority (Kfz-Zulassungsbehörde). In order to keep waiting times as short as possible, a vehicle will only be registered in Hanover after prior arrangement of an appointment.

Notify the new address

In addition to friends, relatives and acquaintances, important authorities and contract partners should of course also be informed about the new address, including insurance companies, banking and credit institutions, telephone companies and the contribution service for the radio contribution.

Put the garbage in the bin or on the street?

At first glance confusing for new Hanoverians: In Hanover, the garbage goes into the bin as well as into the sack onto the street. Here you can find out exactly how this is regulated: aha (German only). This is not a pun, but the abbreviation for "Zweckverband Abfallwirtschaft Region Hannover". And it's actually not that difficult:

Residual and organic waste in the bin

The residual waste is collected in black bins in the urban area of Hanover; the inhabitants of an apartment building use these bins jointly. Biowaste is collected in a similar way, but it may only end up loose, i.e. unpacked, in the brown bin.

© aha

Paper and packaging waste goes into the sack

Here it becomes typically Hanoverian: It is actually intended that every household regularly places the paper and plastic waste in different coloured bags at the edge of the road in front of their own front door. Paper waste belongs in the blue sack, light packaging such as yoghurt cups and aluminium cans are collected in the yellow sacks. The blue and yellow bags are issued in shops and at recycling centres. However, since 2017 aha has been striving to dispose of paper waste in tons instead of bags.

Garbage collection dates according to districts

The collection of bags and other household waste is based on a fixed system: the waste is collected at least every two weeks, but also weekly in some districts. The filled bags must not be placed on the roadside until the evening before the individual day of collection at the earliest and must be properly filled and well sealed. And when will the bags be picked up? Just enter your own address here and aha will tell you (German only).    

Basic electricity and gas supply 

Whoever moves into a new apartment in Hanover, but has not yet individually selected an electricity and gas supplier, does not have to grope in the dark or freeze in the cold. At the beginning "enercity", the municipal company of the Stadtwerke Hannover, steps in as a basic supplier. 

Second hand or free of charge

Such a move costs a lot of money, so it is good to know cheap or even free offers in your new home country (German only):