We systematically contacted 70 German cities and their waste management companies, evaluated responses and publicly accessible waste reports, and followed up multiple times when necessary. In the end, usable figures were available for 53 cities – around 22 million residents, approximately one quarter of the German population. We condensed these into a common metric: kilograms of electronic waste per head, differentiated by large, medium, and small cities, supplemented by the number of collection points within a 10-kilometer radius. 

The surprising result: smaller cities collect significantly more per capita than large cities, and the density of collection points barely correlates with collection volume. The evaluation of national data also revealed a previously underutilized potential for the return of small devices through retail channels.  

This potential became the central theme of the campaign: it provides a constructive contribution to the debate and draws attention to the fact that raising awareness and incentives are necessary to advance recycling. With MediaMarktSaturn as the sender, the topic achieved precisely this attention.