While there are cultural differences (the "typical" Germans is probably thinking more about the environmental effects than the "typical" Argentine), the actual reason that the German recycling system works pretty efficiently is that there are incentives. Basically you have three kinds of garbage. Cardboard/paper, "recyclables" and remaining garbage. The first category is mostly outsourced to private companies and they are often economically efficient, so you pay for the waste management with your waste. The second category is a system called "the green dot" where manufacturers are forced to pay a fee based on their packaging, which is used to finance the collection and recycling. The remaining waste is paid by each household based on volume - the more garbage of this category you produce, the more you pay. So it makes financially sense to separate the three categories and minimize the non-recycable garbage. I'm pretty sure if everyone would pay a fixed fee for the remaining garbage, way less people would actually separate the garbage.
