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Why are garbage bags so expensive in Switzerland?

Like nearly everything else, garbage bags too are expensive in Switzerland, with the cost depending on the community where you live.

Published: 1 December 2023 14:17 CET
Why are garbage bags so expensive in Switzerland?
This is definitely NOT the Swiss way of garbage disposal. Photo: Pixabay

Even if you have become (more or less) accustomed to the cost of living in Switzerland, the price of trash bags may still come as a shock.

You are not alone.

A German social media influencer, who lives in the Zurich area, recently posted a rant on TikTok about the price of garbage bags in her region: 17 francs for a package of ten 35-litre bags.

“It’s such a disgrace that they’re so expensive,” she said. “In Germany, you pay 35 cents or one euro for 60.”

Her post unleashed many comments, but more about them in a minute.

Meanwhile, let take a look at how much these bags cost in various Swiss regions — and why you have to pay so much just to toss your rubbish away.

‘Polluter pays’ principle

Most communities in Switzerland have introduced either official trash bags (that is, the only ones allowed to be used for garbage disposal), priced according to their size (17, 35, 60, or 100 litres), or a special municipal sticker to be affixed to a bag. 

Taxes collected from the sale of these bags (or stickers) are used for municipal waste management.

The thinking behind the special bags, and their pricing, is based on the ‘polluter pays’ principle — the more expensive the bag is, the higher the incentive to care about the amount of trash you are creating.

This is especially true, as you are not supposed to throw just anything into those bags: they are not intended for recyclables, such as PET bottles, glass, carton, paper, aluminium cans, batteries, and compost, which should be disposed of separately.

And if you think you can get away with stuffing your bag to the rim with items that should be recycled (as those mentioned above), do so at your own risk and peril.

Municipal ‘trash inspectors’ (yes, there is such a job in Switzerland) occasionally examine the contents of garbage bags in their communities.

A number of ‘garbage criminals’ have been nabbed in Switzerland in recent years; fines imposed on them vary from one community to another.

READ ALSO :Why the Swiss government rummages through your garbage

How much do these bags cost?

The price depends on where you live and the size of the bag (as explained above).

For instance, a pack of ten 35-litre bags costs 19.50 francs in Vaud, 19.95 in Bern, 23 in Basel-City, and 23.50 in Schaffhausen.

You can see prices for various communities, according to the bag size, here.

You may have noticed that Geneva is not included on that list.

That’s because it is the only canton that does not charge for garbage bags; the only rule is that “household waste must be placed in sturdy, watertight and closed bags meeting the OKS standard and then deposited in a container”.

OKS garbage bags are tested and certified for quality and resistance in accordance with the guidelines of the Swiss Association of Municipal Infrastructure.

READ ALSO: What Geneva residents should know about new compulsory waste sorting

Has Switzerland’s approach been successful?

Various data indicates that the amount of household garbage has decreased, while the overall recycling rate went up considerably.

Now, let’s back to the German Tik Toker

Though many Swiss routinely complain about the cost of trash bags, they don’t like it if foreigners do so.

For instance, among the many comments trashing the woman’s rant, and especially her comparisons to price of bags in Germany, one user remarked, “it’s normal that prices are lower in third-world countries.”
 
 

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LIVING IN SWITZERLAND

REVEALED: How Switzerland’s native-English speakers are growing in number

Some Swiss cities have higher concentrations of foreign residents than others. A new study reveals where most of them live and interestingly how more and more of them are native English-speakers.

Published: 23 April 2024 15:21 CEST
Updated: 28 April 2024 08:45 CEST
REVEALED: How Switzerland's native-English speakers are growing in number

Foreigners who move to Switzerland like to settle in the cities.

This is what emerges from a new study published by the Federal Statistical Office (FSO) on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, the municipality with the highest number of foreign residents is not Zurich or Geneva, but Kreuzlingen in canton Thurgau, where 56.3 percent of the population are foreigners.

Next is Rorschach in St. Gallen, where just over half (50.6 percent) of residents are foreign.

In terms of regions, however, more towns in the French-speaking part of the country have a high proportion of non-Swiss.

In the first place is the Lausanne suburb of Renens, where 49.3 percent of inhabitants are foreign.

It is followed by Geneva (49.2 percent) and its districts Meyrin (45.4 percent) and Vernier (44.8 percent). Next are Vaud municipalities of Montreux (44.2 percent) and Yverdon (37.7 percent).

The study doesn’t indicate why exactly so many immigrants move to these particular towns, but generally new arrivals tend to settle in or near places where they work.

Another interesting finding: English language is gaining ground

“If we consider non-national languages, it is striking to see that English has developed significantly,” FSO reports.

“It is today the main language of 8.1 percent of the resident population.”

This has also been shown in another FSO study in March, which indicated that  English is not only the most prevalent foreign language in Switzerland, but in some regions even ‘outperforms’ national languages.

In French-speaking Geneva, for instance, 11.8 percent of the population speak English — more than 5.7 percent who speak Italian. And in the neighbouring Vaud, 9.1 percent of residents speak English, versus 4.9 percent for both German and Italian.

In Basel-City, where the main language is German, 12.5 percent speak English, 6.1 percent Italian, and 5 percent French.

And in Zurich,10.8 percent speak English, versus only 5.8 percent for Italian and 3.2 percent French.

The ‘ winner’ however, is the German-speaking Zug, where 14.1 percent of the population over the age of 15 has English as their primary language. 

READ ALSO : Where in Switzerland is English most widely used? 

What else does the study reveal?

It shows to what extent Switzerland’s population ‘migrated’ from rural areas to cities over the past century.

While only a third of the country’s residents lived in urban regions 100 years ago, the 170 Swiss cities and their agglomerations are now home to three-quarters of the population.

As a result of this evolution, “new cities sprang up, many political and spatial boundaries were moved, and the country became increasingly urban.”

With a population of 427,000, Zurich is still the most populated city, followed by Geneva (204,000) and Basel (174,000).

And there is more: Fewer people practice religion

The proportion of people who feel they belong to a traditional religion is generally falling, FSO found.

This downward trend concerns all religions, but it is strongest among people of the Reformed Evangelical faith.

In six towns in particular — Bussigny, Crissier, and Ecublens (VD), Kloten, and Opfikon (ZH), as well as Oftringen (AR) — the drop was of more than 70 percent.
 
 READ ALSO: Why so many Swiss are quitting the church and taking their money with them

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