Oktoberfest's waste total has been falling for years, but the world's largest beer festival still fills a lot of bins. In 2026 the Munich festival is expected to produce around 760 tonnes of waste (1.7 million pounds) over its 16 days, roughly 48 tonnes a day.
That is the rubbish collected from bins across the festival site in Munich, home of the original Oktoberfest. Hundreds of other cities now hold their own, though Munich is the only one that publishes what it throws away.
Munich banned disposable plates and cups in 1991, cutting the litter each visitor leaves behind from about 2 kilograms to roughly 200 grams. Even so, 6.5 million guests over 16 days are still expected to leave around 760 tonnes of waste behind in 2026.
Oktoberfest's waste totals (2023-2026)
The City of Munich reports a single waste total after each festival. Here are the last three, plus the 2026 estimate, newest year first.
| Year | Waste disposed (tonnes) | Change on prior year (tonnes) | Change on prior year (%) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 760 | -4 | -0.5% |
| 2025 | 764 | -38 | -4.7% |
| 2024 | 802 | -47 | -5.5% |
| 2023 | 849 | baseline | baseline |
Note: Totals are the waste disposed of by Munich's municipal service (the AWM) across the festival site, from the City of Munich and the official Oktoberfest reports. The 2025 figure is preliminary, and 2026 is an estimate because that festival runs later this year.
The trend has been steadily down, from 849 tonnes in 2023 to 764 in 2025. With attendance expected near 6.5 million again, 2026 should land in the same range, around 760 tonnes.
How Oktoberfest grew into the world's biggest beer festival
Oktoberfest is a Bavarian folk festival held on a Munich field called the Theresienwiese. It began as a one-off royal party and grew into the 16-day event that now draws millions.
- 1810. The first Oktoberfest was a horse race held to celebrate the wedding of Crown Prince Ludwig of Bavaria and Princess Therese. The field was named the Theresienwiese, or "Therese's meadow", after the bride.
- The years after. The race returned every year and picked up an agricultural show, sideshows and, in time, the beer tents the festival is known for today.
- 1991. Munich banned disposable plates, cups and cutlery across the whole site. Vendors have served on reusable crockery ever since.
- Today. The 2026 event is the 191st Oktoberfest and runs from 19 September to 4 October. A normal year draws 6 to 7 million visitors who drink around 6.5 to 7 million litres of beer.
Where the waste comes from
With disposable tableware banned, most of Oktoberfest's waste is not single-use packaging. Four things drive the total.
- Food on a huge scale. Millions of meals are served over 16 days, with roast chicken the runaway favourite, plus sausages, roast ox and pretzels. That leaves a lot of food and kitchen waste.
- 6.5 million litres of beer. Pouring, spillage and breakage all add up. In 2023 the festival sent about 53 tonnes of broken glass for recycling.
- Huge single-day crowds. Even with reusable dishes, millions of people over 16 days drop litter faster than it can be binned, which is why street teams still sweep tonnes off the ground each night.
- Deliveries behind the scenes. Guests get reusable crockery, but suppliers still bring food and drink in boxes and packaging. That showed up as roughly 77 tonnes of paper and cardboard in 2023.
How much litter ends up on the ground
The bin total above is only part of the picture. Munich's street-cleaning teams also sweep up loose litter that misses the bins, both on the festival grounds and in the streets around them.
| Where | 2025 (tonnes) | 2024 (tonnes) |
|---|---|---|
| On the festival grounds | 93 | 72 |
| In the surrounding streets | 55 | 36 |
| Total swept up | 148 | 108 |
Note: This loose litter is swept up by Munich's street-cleaning department, separate from the bin waste in the table above, so the two are not added together. Up to 30 workers cleared it each night between 2am and 8am. Figures from the City of Munich.
This swept litter went up from 2024 to 2025, even as the bin total fell.
What the waste is made of
Munich last published a full breakdown by type for the 2023 festival. Most of it is general rubbish rather than recyclables.
| Waste type | Tonnes | Share |
|---|---|---|
| General waste | 718 | 85% |
| Paper and cardboard | 77 | 9% |
| Glass | 53 | 6% |
| Total | 848 | 100% |
Note: From the 2023 festival, the most recent year with a full split by type. General waste is what is left after recycling, and is burned to make energy or sent for disposal. Later years report a single total only.
The scale of one Oktoberfest
The waste total makes more sense next to the size of the event. Here is what a single Oktoberfest involves, using the two most recent years.
| Measure | 2025 | 2024 |
|---|---|---|
| Visitors | 6.5 million | 6.7 million |
| Beer served | 6.5 million litres | 7 million litres |
| Length | 16 days | 16 days |
| Electricity used | 2.8 million kWh | 2.8 million kWh |
| Water used | 81,000 cubic metres | 81,000 cubic metres |
Note: Visitor and beer numbers are the organisers' rounded estimates. Electricity and water are the festival's reported totals. All figures from the official Oktoberfest reports for 2025 and 2024.
Big events add up. We have run the same question for the FIFA World Cup and the Tour de France.
Oktoberfest around the world
Munich is the original, but Oktoberfest is now a global event. Hundreds of cities hold their own version each autumn, and the biggest draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands.
| Celebration | Where | Reported attendance |
|---|---|---|
| Oktoberfest (die Wiesn) | Munich, Germany | about 6.5 million |
| Oktoberfest Blumenau | Blumenau, Brazil | over 500,000 |
| Oktoberfest Zinzinnati | Cincinnati, USA | 700,000 to 800,000 |
| Kitchener-Waterloo Oktoberfest | Ontario, Canada | around 700,000 |
| Oktoberfest | Denver, USA | over 450,000 |
Note: Attendance figures are each event's own reported numbers and vary from year to year and source to source. Only Munich publishes a waste total, so the rest are visitor counts, not waste.
None of these cities report how much waste they produce, so there is no measured worldwide total. The biggest celebrations outside Germany together draw well over two million people. If they threw away waste at Munich's rate, that would add very roughly 300 tonnes between them.
Most of them still serve food and drink in disposable cups and plates rather than Munich's reusables, so their real waste per head is almost certainly higher.
Put together, the world's major Oktoberfests plausibly clear more than 1,000 tonnes a year. The thousands of smaller local Oktoberfests push the true figure higher still, though no one counts it.
What Munich does to keep the waste down
Oktoberfest is often held up as a well-run big event, and the waste rules are the main reason. Munich leans on a few measures.
- A ban on single-use tableware. Since 1991, only reusable plates, cups and cutlery are allowed on the site. That one rule cut the litter left per visitor from about 2 kilograms to roughly 200 grams, close to a 90% drop.
- Strict waste separation. Recyclables go into dedicated containers, and kitchen and food waste is collected and recycled on its own.
- Green electricity. Since 2012 the whole festival has run on certified green power, about 2.8 million kilowatt-hours a year.
- Water reuse. Since 1998, some large tents reuse the rinse water from their beer-mug washing machines to flush toilets.
What the figures leave out
These totals count the waste cleared from the festival site. They do not include the wider footprint of the event, such as getting millions of visitors to Munich or the supply chain behind the beer and food.
Munich does not report those as waste, so the reported total is best read as the on-site figure, not the festival's full environmental cost.
Frequently asked questions about Oktoberfest waste
Below are the questions people most often ask about how much waste Oktoberfest produces.
How much waste does Oktoberfest produce each year?
About 764 tonnes at the most recent Munich festival, in 2025, with 2026 expected to be similar at around 760 tonnes. That is the waste cleared from bins across the site over its 16 days. Earlier years were higher, at 802 tonnes in 2024 and 849 in 2023.
What kind of waste does Oktoberfest produce most of?
General waste, the sort that is burned for energy or sent for disposal rather than recycled. In the 2023 breakdown it was about 85% of the total, followed by paper and cardboard at 9% and glass at 6%.
How much litter is left lying on the ground?
Separate from the bin waste, street teams swept up 93 tonnes on the festival grounds and another 55 tonnes in the surrounding streets in 2025. That litter is cleared overnight, between 2am and 8am.
Does Oktoberfest use single-use plates and cups?
No. Munich banned disposable tableware across the whole site in 1991, so vendors serve only on reusable crockery. That rule cut the waste left per visitor from about 2 kilograms to roughly 200 grams.
How much beer is drunk at Oktoberfest?
About 6.5 million litres in 2025 and 7 million litres in 2024. The all-time high was 79,225 hectolitres, close to 7.9 million litres, back in 2011.
How many people go to Oktoberfest?
Around 6.5 million in 2025 and 6.7 million in 2024. The record was 7.2 million visitors in 2023. A typical year lands somewhere between 6 and 7 million.
Do other cities hold Oktoberfest too?
Yes. Oktoberfest began in Munich but is now held in hundreds of cities. The biggest outside Germany are in Blumenau (Brazil), Cincinnati (USA) and Kitchener-Waterloo (Canada), each drawing several hundred thousand people. None publish waste totals, so Munich's is the only measured one.
Is Oktoberfest's waste actually recycled?
Some of it. Recyclables and food waste are separated out, but most of the total is general waste that is burned for energy rather than recycled. Glass and paper are the main recycled streams.
When is Oktoberfest 2026?
The 191st Oktoberfest runs from 19 September to 4 October 2026 on the Theresienwiese in Munich. Waste figures for it will not be published until after it ends.
How do we know these figures?
They come from the City of Munich and the official Oktoberfest organisers, who publish waste, visitor and beer totals after each festival. The waste itself is handled by the city's waste service and its street-cleaning department.
Images: zoesch, Nikolay Komarov
