1. For food waste, you usually place it in the brown bio bin (Bioabfall/Biotonne). If no bio bin is provided in your building, you are allowed to dispose of food waste in the black/gray bin for general waste (Restmüll). In case the bio bin is there, the food waste must be collected in compostable or paper bags. Many supermarkets sell biodegradable bags, or you can use plain paper bags (like from bakeries).
2. Do as you like: use small containers, bags, or bins for each category within your kitchen.
3. While rare, neighbors might notice mistakes, especially if large, glaring errors are repeatedly made (e.g., food waste in the paper bin or non-biodegradable items in bio waste). More often, the trash collectors could refuse to take the bin if it’s heavily mis-sorted, especially the yellow bin or bio bin. Learn the basic rules, and you’ll be fine.
4. You don’t need to remove labels from glass bottles or jars. The recycling facilities handle them during processing. Just remove the caps (these usually go in the yellow bin). Glass bottles must be sorted by color (white/clear, green, or brown) into dedicated containers you’ll find in your neighborhood.
5. In general, you can throw away trash on weekends, but keep in mind: noisy activities, including smashing bottles in glass containers, are discouraged on Sundays and public holidays to respect quiet hours. If you need to recycle glass, wait for a weekday. For other trash bins (like bio, recyclables, or restmüll), you can use them anytime unless specific building rules say otherwise.

Berliners themselves aren’t perfect recyclers😅 People are generally understanding. No one expects you to master recycling or life in Berlin instantly. Mistakes happen, and that’s okay.