Abstract: A method and device for detecting the position of a transparent conveyor belt including directing light beams (2) onto the region of an edge (3) of the conveyor belt, detecting a jump in intensity of the light beam (2, 2′) as a consequence of the partial insertion of the conveyor belt into the beam path (2) and evaluating the detected jump in intensity in order to determine the position of the conveyor belt, wherein the light beams (2) are linear polarized light and the beam path (2) is directed at an angle or irradiation (&agr;) between 40° and 80° of the light (2) onto the bounding surface (7) in such a way that a high degree of reflection is achieved and reflected light and non-reflected light is detected.