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Why have Zurich’s compost collectors become notorious?

Municipal trash inspectors across Switzerland are notoriously meticulous in sniffing out ‘improper’ waste. And the ones from Zurich have even won a prize for it.

Why have Zurich's compost collectors become notorious?
In Zurich, garden composts have spawned off a tongue-in-cheek award. Image by Herbert from Pixabay

The self-proclaimed goal of an organisation called Freedom Priority (IF Freiheit in German, Priorité Liberté in French, and Priorità Libertà in Italian) is to fight “for the freedom of citizens and against unnecessary regulations imposed by the State.”

To this end, the group gives out an annual award, called the ‘Rusty Paragraph’, for “the stupidest law or the most senseless intervention of the year.”

Among prior winners are the 10 pm curfew for cowbells in Aargau and a ban on eating raclette in cable cars (the latter has since been revoked).

READ ALSO: Switzerland re-legalises raclette and fondue in cable cars

And this years’s winner is…

…the compost police, an official post introduced in the city of Zurich!

The new waste management ordinance calls for all organic waste to be deposited in containers.

“People who compost themselves must fill out a form to be released from this obligation and the resulting tax. The existence of the compost heap in the private garden is then controlled by city employees,” the organisation explained in a press release.

While this rule may sound like an overabundance of fastidiousness, waste management is not a laughing matter in Switzerland.

The Swiss take proper garbage disposal seriously — so seriously, in fact, that various communities hire inspectors for the unenviable job of finding improperly tossed-out trash.

Various examples prove that not recycling or disposing of one’s garbage in a municipally-approved manner can result in hefty fines.
 
READ ALSO: Why the Swiss government rummages through your garbage

The last such incident happened – coincidentally — also in Zurich, where a clueless American threw a carton box into a ‘regular’ trash can, instead of recycling it.

At the time of this incident, the offender had not yet received his fine, but it could have been as high as 320 francs. 

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TRAVEL NEWS

’25km of conveyor belts’: Zurich Airport completes new ‘reliable’ baggage system

The handling of passenger luggage will “function reliably in the future” at Zurich international airport, authorities say thanks to a new system that features 25 km of conveyor belts. It only took 7 years to build...

'25km of conveyor belts': Zurich Airport completes new 'reliable' baggage system

Seven years after the project began, the new, largely underground facility that will “effectively sort” some 30,000 pieces of luggage ‘transiting’ through the airport every day, airport’s management said on Tuesday.

(Up to 50,000 are handled on peak-travel days).

The new facility includes 25 km of conveyor belts, 5,500 motors, and 5,600 sensors. Sorting is controlled in accordance with the new rules in force in the European Union.

Why is this important for passengers?

Being centrally located, Zurich is among the main hubs in Europe for air travel, with nearly 30 million people flying into, from, or transiting through this airport.

Fast and efficient  luggage handling service is therefore essential.

The new baggage sorting system has replaced the old one, whose parts had reached the end of their lifecycle.

“Construction projects at such critical infrastructure of our airport must be realised while operations are ongoing and are accordingly challenging,” said Lydia Naef, the airport’s Chief Real Estate Officer.

As for Stefan Tschudin, Chief Operation Officer of Flughafen Zürich AG, he emphasised that “with the new technology, Zurich Airport ensures that baggage allocation will continue to function reliably in the future. This is essential for smooth operations of the entire flight process.”

The old sorting system will be permanently decommissioned this fall. 

But while the main phase of the project will be completed by then, the entire replacement of the old system is expected to be completed by 2027.

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