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ENVIRONMENT

What are Switzerland’s rules for waste disposal and recycling?

The Swiss are meticulous when it comes to waste disposal and, not surprisingly, they have strict regulations on how to throw away trash in an environmentally correct manner.

Published: 14 August 2020 15:17 CEST
Updated: 17 January 2024 11:40 CET
What are Switzerland's rules for waste disposal and recycling?
These are the recycling bins for the trash-compliant people in Switzerland. Photo by AFP

Some new arrivals may not know all the intricate details involved in disposing of one’s rubbish in Switzerland, as this post on an expat forum reminded us:

“The agency that rented me the flat sent me a letter with pictures of my opened garbage where they identified me by my personal documents. They sent me a fine to pay because I have not correctly separated the garbage.

“How legal is this action to open garbage and identify me?”

Clearly, this person is not aware that throwing away all their waste in a trash bag without segregating it is an offence in Switzerland.

For instance, mixing PET bottles with tin cans or paper can result in heavy fines, the amount of which is determined by each individual commune.

And yes, municipal workers have the right to go through trash bags to identify garbage offenders.

For example, a woman in the Lausanne area was fined 190 francs after she allegedly put out her garbage on a Wednesday. Under local by-laws, rubbish can only be placed on the street for collection on Mondays.

Her bag had been opened and a bill had been found in her name, allowing garbage detectives to identify her.

 There are also certain rules for particular types of seasonal waste. Christmas trees, for instance, are not to be put in organic waste/compost in most parts of the country (but not all). 

Reader question: How do I dispose of my Christmas tree in Zurich?

This kind of over-zealous approach is not necessarily the norm in all Swiss communes, but it is better to be informed and follow the rules than risk a fine.

Remember: garbage is a serious matter in Switzerland. These are the things to keep in mind.

You can’t use just any bag to dispose of your trash. Each canton has either specially designated bags, priced according to their size (35, 60, or 100 litres), or a sticker to be affixed to a bag.  Taxes collected from the sale of these bags are used for municipal waste management.

The bags are available in all supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores. However, you may not find them on the shelves and you will have to ask for them at the cash register. The reason is that the bags are expensive (though prices vary from one canton to another) and people have been stealing them.

Just as an example, a pack of ten 35-litre bags costs 20.20 francs in Zurich and 19.50 francs in Vaud, so prices for bags, or stickers, are not uniform through Switzerland.

You should not throw away your recyclables, including PET bottles, glass, cardboard, paper, tins, aluminium and batteries, into the trash bag. Instead, they must go into a specially designated collection point in your commune of residence.

This map shows where the one closest to you is located.

Follow all these rules and you will never have to worry about trash police knocking on your door.

Member comments

  1. “The bags are available in all supermarkets, grocery and convenience stores. However, you may not find them on the shelves and you will have to ask for them at the cash register. The reason is that the bags are expensive – over 30 francs for 10 of the smallest-sized ones— and people have been stealing them.”

    the following is copied from my last supermarket order (Migros (Swiss))

    “Legal designation
    Sacs à ordures 35L
    Product ID: 56724
    Fr. 2.50
    20 Pieces
    Fr. 0.13 / Piece”

    … please explain …

  3. Thanks to all for comments pointing out to discrepancies in prices. This is now corrected in the article.

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ENVIRONMENT

Swiss climate policy in spotlight after court ruling

Switzerland is facing scrutiny of its environmental policies after becoming the first country faulted by an international court for failing to do enough against climate change.

Published: 15 April 2024 11:56 CEST
Swiss climate policy in spotlight after court ruling

The European Court of Human Rights’s ruling last week highlighted a number of failings in Swiss policies, but experts stressed that the ountry was not necessarily doing much worse than its peers.

“The judgement made it really clear that there are critical gaps in the Swiss domestic regulatory framework,” said Tiffanie Chan, a policy analyst at the London School of Economics and Political Science specialising in climate change laws.

“But it’s definitely not a Switzerland-only case,” she told AFP.

Corina Heri, a postdoctoral researcher with the Climate Rights and Remedies Project at Zurich University, agreed.

“This doesn’t mean in any way that … only Switzerland has a problem,” she told AFP.

The court last Tuesday ruled in favour of the Swiss association Elders for Climate Protection — 2,500 women above the age of 64 — who had complained Swiss authorities’ “failings” on climate protection could “seriously harm” their health.

Elderly women are particularly vulnerable to the effects of heatwaves, which due to climate change are becoming more frequent and intensifying, they argued.

The court agreed, ruling that the Swiss state’s climate policy failures violated Article 8 of the European rights convention, which guarantees the “right to respect for private and family life”.

Insufficient 

The 2015 Paris Agreement set ambitious targets for governments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with the aim of preferably limiting warming to below global temperature rises to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

To help meet that goal, Switzerland has said it will cut emissions by 50 percent by 2030, compared to 1990-levels, and reach net zero by 2050.

That target is “average” on a global scale, according to independent monitor Climate Action Tracker (CAT) — which nonetheless deems Switzerland’s climate targets, policies and finance as “insufficient” to help reach the Paris goals.

“Switzerland’s climate policies and action until 2030 need substantial improvements to be consistent with limiting warming to 1.5C,” it says.

To reach its 2030 target, Switzerland would need to slash emissions by at least 35 percent by next year, according to Geraldine Pflieger, head of Geneva University’s science and environment institute.

But for now, Switzerland has cut emissions by less than 20 percent, which was the target it had set, and missed, for 2020.

“Switzerland is not on a favourable trajectory,” Pflieger told AFP.

By comparison, the European Union as a whole has cut emissions by 31 percent, while experts believe it is on track to reach over 60 percent by 2030, Pflieger pointed out.

Highly problematic 

But Chan stressed that many individual countries within the EU have also missed their 2020 targets.

“There are many challenges across Europe, which are similar to this case.”

The comparison however looks worse for Switzerland when considering its heavy reliance on carbon offset projects abroad towards its promised cuts, experts say.

It does not quantify how much it plans to rely on such offsets to reach its targets, something CAT described as “highly problematic”.

“The extent to which Switzerland relies on those is just huge,” Charlotte Blattner, a senior lecturer and climate law expert at the University of Bern, told AFP.

Such projects, she lamented, typically “lack traceability, they are not really verifiable”.

In addition, relying on them means “Switzerland misses a chance to basically transform its own infrastructure in a way that would align with climate policies”.

Direct democracy dilemma 

A major issue separating Switzerland from its peers is its direct democracy system, which allows popular votes on a vast array of issues, sometimes slowing down or derailing policies approved by government and parliament.
In 2021, voters rejected a new CO2 law, delaying implementation.

Finally last year, voters backed a new climate bill aimed at steering the country towards carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Direct democracy has not been a good friend for putting in place Swiss climate policies,” Pflieger said.

Blattner however stressed that Switzerland’s government can act fast in some cases.

She pointed to how it took emergency measures last year over the course of a weekend to rescue the country’s second largest bank Credit Suisse from going belly-up.

“Here, no democratic vote of the people was necessary,” she said.

“I think government should think more… of instituting effective climate change (action) rather than hiding behind excuses.”

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