A good friend of mine was hose to an exchange student from Germany years ago.  The student comes back to visit my friend every year, they became close.  The exchange student continued in Germany to get his medical degree, and is now a medical doctor in his home country.

One year when he came to visit, my friend took him and a friend he brought with him to a local airport during their open house, where one of the activities was radio contolled model planes.  One model pilot brought in his plane, got out a syringe and as usual, sucked out a few cc's of remaining fuel.  The model pilot then turned and ejected several cc's of fuel on the ground. 

The germans were shocked, but didn't say anything.  Later my friend asked what shocked them, and they told him that would have never happened in their home country.  Pollution laws there are very strict, and even a few cc'
s of fuel would have been grounds for arrest, according to them.


I do recall my BILS coming back from being stationed in Germany in the mid 1950's, and mentioned several laws, like a permit needed to cut down a tree and that all waterways were cleared of brush and logs.  Since I haven't visited the country, I don't know how true this is, perhaps RonNIL would know more about this.