My Eco Tip Seven

How the Swiss Manage Garbage

In the US every garbage goes into one bag but in Swiss this is very different. Firstly, garbage bags- Zuri Sacks, are a green alternative to plastic bags. This is because, they are reusable and biodegradable which may be much better than those made of non-biodegradable plastic and filled with toxic residue of packaging chemicals from food products such as pesticides, fertilizers & plastics in general.

The Zuri Sacks are pretty expensive to enhance recycling efficiency. Therefore, the Swiss also have many garbage cans for every house and these are easily recycled. Until it get to a point that all recycling solutions can be source from industrial waste– organic matter in food & drink products including vegetable peels, corn cobs etc., then Zuri Sacks could well be a key component of making the entire system work better at reducing pollution along with splitting already increasing costs between producers & consumers on reduced packaging materials usage.

Toxic products are not put in Zuri sacks. These products include, metal, glass, large stones etc. And thus, the Zuri Sacks make sure all of the toxic materials are separated and collected on separate days of the week.

Then outside apartments there is a large container for putting the Zuri sacks where the garbage can be recycled. Other separate containers, for putting metals, glass, plastics, food waste, and other hazardous & toxic materials are put.

And putting the garbage into these containers only happens from Monday to Saturday between 7 am to 8 pm with an exception of public holidays to avoid noise.

At the grocery store there are containers for putting PE, PETs, and plastics separately. The garbage is only allowed to be thrown into the storage container during these collection intervals between 7 am & 8 pm, which have been set through cooperation with businessmen and other sectors. At the grocery store, you can dispose CO2 cartridges, PET bottles, batteries, life bulbs, other kinds of plastic separately.

Switzerland has one of the highest recycling rates in the world where 80% of plastic bottles are recycled.