Why Swiss are Good Recyclers

Can you believe that the little country of Switzerland produces 4.47 pounds of trash per person every day, while big USA produces an average of 4.4 pounds? I’m shocked about that fact but feel a little better knowing that the Swiss recycling quote for municipal waste is at 54 % (in 2017), which makes the Swiss one of the world’s best recyclers. For comparison, the US recycling quote is only 34%.

When I came to the US, I quickly realized that some things are handled differently than in Switzerland, such as recycling. During my first week in the US, I bought a couple groceries from a popular store. At the checkout, I spotted someone bagging groceries for the first time in my life. Until that moment, Never before has someone put the groceries for me in bags, which gave me some kind of a weird feeling at the beginning. Back home, we don’t get plastic or paper bags for free, we have to pay for every single one of them and put the items in the bags by ourselves. That’s why a lot of people, me included, bring their own bags, mostly reusable fabric bags. I always carry mine with me in my backpack or purse.

I also noticed that the bagger would put about three products in a bag and then use a new one for another few pieces of groceries, that wouldn’t even fill half of the bag. What a waste, I thought. No wonder roughly 100 billion plastic bags are used every year in the US.

Indeed, there are containers in most of the bigger supermarkets, where you can dispose your used plastic bags, but I see very little people throwing their used bags in there or using them again.

Remembering the fact that plastic can only be recycled up to two times and it takes more than 400 years for it to degrade, I feel sick and a little guilty at the same time.

That’s how I felt on my first few visits to Starbucks. Whenever I order a coffee to drink inside, I get a to-go-cup each time. I’m used to getting an actual coffee mug when I’m having my coffee at a table in Switzerland.

In the US, there is also a big bunch of food places which use plastic dishes — not to mention the Styrofoam boxes that one gets for leftovers.

Another time, when I tossed a paper in the recycling bin and asked which bin to toss my paper in, my friend gave me a funny look. At that time, I didn’t know that there is only one bin for glass, paper, cardboard, etc.

In Switzerland, we separate each item individually:

Paper and Cardboard

Each month, we collect paper and cardboard, bundle them in piles and put them outside on the curb to be collected.

Glass

For the glass, disposal spots with big containers are either centrally located in the community’s neighborhood or can be found close to a supermarket. We even separate the glass by color: green, clear and brown.

Tins and Aluminum

At the same spot, tins cans and products made from aluminum can be disposed of in the fitting waste container.

Clothes & Shoes

Wearable clothes and shoes can also be put in a container which is mostly located close to the collection spots for glass and tins. Good clothing pieces are resold to numerous countries.

Plastic Bottles

For plastic bottles, as well as milk containers (which are separated individually), there are collection spots in most of our grocery stores.

Compost

Organic waste, we dispose in the compost and either use the compost soil later for our own garden or put it in the community’s collection point.

Batteries, CD’s, DVD’s and electronic devices

Can be returned at electronic retailers for free.

Other

Even trash such as cadavers, poison and oils have their own specific way to be disposed — mostly through local community.

Plastic

In my home canton, all household plastic waste, such as empty and rinsed out shampoo bottles, plastic toys, garden furniture etc.) is collected in a separate, white bag, which comes with disposal fee of around $ 2.50 per 15.85 gallons bag.

Regular Waste

All non-organic food waste as well as regular household waste is disposed of in a common trash bin. And here another difference: the Swiss must pay for their trash. In my home Canton (state) Solothurn, the disposal fee for a 15.85 gallons trash bag is $ 1.98. The fee covers the costs of collection, transport and disposal.

With that fee, residents are supposed to be motivated to recycle more. Those who dispose their waste through separating, saves more space in the household trash bags and, saves money. So basically, the waste management in Switzerland is based on the polluter pays principle, which shows that the taxed trash bags supposedly led to 30 % less waste per capita.

So, what is it, that makes the Swiss recycling system successful?

Maybe because it’s common that most people in Switzerland take recycling of the different types of waste very seriously and are strict about it. Most of us learned the art of recycling from our parents or through written briefings by our communities.

Furthermore, the developed system makes it easy for Swizerland to recycle — we have separated trash cans for regular waste, paper, aluminum and plastic bottles at most of our train stations.

But the greatest part of the Swiss recycling system, is our willingness to separate waste in order to keep our country clean.

So, no matter in which part of the world we live, let’s recycle more and take care of our planet!

This post was created by an amazing GREEN ZINE volunteer contributor, and opinions expressed may not represent the views of Greenpeace. If you are interested in volunteering as a GREEN ZINE contributor, visit this link.