Pay-As-You-Go Garbage Collection
In an effort to combat landfills, German cities weigh the stuff you throw away and charge as much as $2 per pound of trash. As a result, people recycle or compost nearly everything, which is far cheaper and kinder for the environment.
BTW, #18 is not 100% true. We pay more taxes than we need to the rest of the year to compensate for this. This is an old odd thing created so people could have more money for Christmas.