A general food store is called "das Lebensmittelgeschäft". If a general store is small and rather old-fashioned, it is affectionately called "der Tante-Emma-Laden". Should you wish to buy organic foods and vegetables, you should look for signs saying "Bioladen" (= health food shop) or the more traditional "das Reformhaus".
Note also the difference between a German chemist's and a drugstore. The chemist's (die Apotheke) dispense drugs and medicines. Some drugs don't require a prescription, wheras others do. Drugs are generally cheaper on prescription, but you obviously have to see a doctor. It is also possible to buy cosmetics and some health foods in an Apotheke.
Markets
Almost all towns, big or small, have one or two markets days a week, often on Wednesday or Saturday mornings. This can vary however - some towns have a permanent market open throughout the week. Quite a few of the stalls are run by local vegetable growers, and are of very high standard. Particularly attractive for visitors are the Christmas markets ("Weihnachtsmärkte"), at which you can buy sweets, pastries and hand-carved Christmas decorations.
Re-cycling
To a much greater extent than in other countries Germany practises the re-cycling of waste products. A "throw-away mentality" (die Wegwerfmentalität) is frowned upon and people are encouraged to purchase environmentally friendly products (umweltfreundliche Produkte) which are recognisable by the symbol of the "blue angel" (der blaue Engel) - see below - and which can be recycled at places indicated by the green dot symbol (der grüne Punkt).
Citizens are also informed by brochures produced by the municiple authorities how to sort their rubbish (die Mülltrennung), i.e. put different kinds of material into different dustbins. Consequently there are dustbins and containers for used paper, glass (which is sorted according to colour), packaging material, organic waste, and residual waste. Yellow sacks are used for recyclable material, green for biodegradable material and black for the rest. The yellow and green bags are taken away free of charge, but you have to pay to have the rest collected. In the street, rubbish is put into the appropriate bin for recycling. Glass bottles should not be thrown into containers on Sundays or at night because of the noise.
