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Outrage in Konstanz: Mayor Burchardt counters with vulgar sayings!
Konstanz introduces a one-way tax, which leads to heated debates and emotional reactions from Mayor Uli Burchardt.
Outrage in Konstanz: Mayor Burchardt counters with vulgar sayings!
The heated discussion about the first municipal one-way tax in Konstanz is taking a grotesque turn. At the beginning of 2025, the city was the second in Germany to introduce a tax on disposable packaging, which is primarily aimed at reducing waste. But the implementation of this measure has not only found approving voices. There were emotional reactions among the population, which were recently expressed in a bizarre incident.
An unknown citizen disposed of an empty ice cream cup with a note attached to it on Mayor Uli Burchardt's (CDU) car. It read: "Have fun disposing of it! Dirty packaging tax. Screw Constance." The mayor immediately reacted on Facebook and posted a photo of the cup with a note, accompanied by the words: "What a disgusting style. F**k yourself! Sorry." This sudden emotional response quickly caught the attention of social media and caused a lot of head shaking.
Emotions and public reactions
Burchardt found the message in his garage on Saturday, and his reaction not only exposed the tense emotions surrounding the new packaging tax, but also caused many users to denounce the mayor's choice of words as inappropriate for his office. After numerous critical comments, totaling over 350, Burchardt decided to slightly change his post by deleting a vulgar word - but the original photo remained on his page.
The new disposable tax of 50 cents on food and drink packaging is intended to counteract litter. In the first year after the introduction of a comparable tax in another city, revenue of around 950,000 euros was achieved there. In addition, the range of reusable packaging has quadrupled, as the city proudly announces. Information about this is also available here Lenz-Johlen.
Background to the packaging tax
The Federal Constitutional Court recently confirmed the levying of such packaging taxes by municipalities. This also includes “take-away” packaging. This ensures that this tax is legally permissible and does not violate the professional freedom of the affected companies reported. The city of Cologne also plans to introduce a similar tax from January 1, 2026, which will further fuel the discussion about waste prevention and environmental awareness.
While Uli Burchardt emphasizes that he wants to remain open to a respectful dialogue despite his emotional outburst, the incident shows how tight-knit opinions on the new tax are. It remains to be seen whether such impulsive reactions from a mayor do justice to his position.