Every time I\u2019m in Switzerland, where I grew up, I find myself madly squeezing as much rubbish as I can into a garbage bag. It\u2019s a delicate and messy task. In Switzerland, every bag of non-recyclable waste comes with a price tag \u2013 and it\u2019s expensive. You won\u2019t be surprised that the Swiss have perfected the art of recycling, aiming to minimise the amount that ends up in those pricey bags.<\/p>\n
The system is both simple and ruthless. Across Switzerland \u2013 except for the canton of Geneva \u2013 every household is required to use government-sanctioned bin bags for anything that can\u2019t be recycled. They\u2019re not your ordinary supermarket variety \u2013 these bags are sold at a premium to cover the cost of waste disposal. The less you throw away, the less you pay. The system encourages Swiss citizens to recycle as much as humanly possible. Plastic, glass, paper and organic waste all get sorted into their respective bins. What\u2019s left \u2013 only the true rubbish \u2013 goes into the bag.<\/p>\n
This approach has transformed waste disposal into a highly organised activity. Every commune and canton is in charge of managing waste, and they ensure that recycling is as accessible as possible. Most villages now have dedicated recycling centres, where you can drop off everything from batteries to broken electronics. The system has been in place for quite some years, pioneered in the 1990s in German-speaking cantons. Less waste \u2013 and a massive reduction in the amount of garbage being incinerated \u2013 has followed since the system was introduced.<\/p>\n
Swiss obsession with discipline comes into play. Each bag has a price \u2013 up to 2.50 Swiss francs (about \u00a32.25) per bag depending on the size. The cost adds up quickly if you\u2019re not diligent. I find myself pressing down on the top of a bulging garbage bag, hoping the bag won\u2019t tear, and doing my best to avoid having to use a second one. And like any self-respecting Swiss, I do this with the acute awareness that my neighbours are likely doing the same \u2013 or at least watching me when I take the garbage out.<\/p>\n
Geneva is the only canton that hasn\u2019t implemented the system. And, as many Swiss would tell you, that\u2019s no surprise. Geneva is seen as the least disciplined canton \u2013 the outlier in a country where order and precision are prized. Geneva\u2019s stance boils down to local resistance against what is seen by some as an onerous burden.<\/p>\n
Now let\u2019s contrast this with London, where I have a flat. On collection days I am often shocked by the piles of rubbish strewn across my otherwise pristine street close to Notting Hill Gate. Black bags, supermarket bags, takeaway bags, boxes and loose refuse are dumped willy-nilly, waiting to be collected. There\u2019s little incentive to reduce the amount of waste, and recycling is patchy at best. Despite efforts to improve the system, the results can be inconsistent. Some neighbours conscientiously sort their recycling, while others throw everything in the same bag without a second thought. In London, unlike Switzerland, there\u2019s no financial penalty for being wasteful. The result is completely chaotic. The council does a brilliant job, but I can\u2019t help but feel that they\u2019re constantly catching up.<\/p>\n
\nGeneva is seen as the least disciplined canton \u2013 the outlier in a country where order and precision are prized<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
The Swiss, on the other hand, have made waste management into an art form. And it\u2019s not just about the cost \u2013 it\u2019s about the cultural expectation. There\u2019s a collective discipline in play, where everyone is expected to do their part. It\u2019s unthinkable to ignore recycling or to dump everything into one bag. And while that level of scrutiny may seem stifling to some, it works. The system relies not only on financial incentives but also on a sense of civic duty. But perhaps more importantly, there\u2019s the fear of standing out as the one neighbour who isn\u2019t following the rules.<\/p>\n
For a system like this to work in the UK \u2013 or anywhere else, for that matter \u2013 you\u2019d need more than just a price on garbage bags. You\u2019d need the social infrastructure and discipline that comes with it. In Switzerland, each canton and commune plays a key role in making sure the system is seamless. Recycling centres are convenient and ubiquitous, and the rules are clear \u2013 and enforced.<\/p>\n
Doubtless such a system would not work as smoothly in Britain. While the financial incentive is certainly powerful, you\u2019d need a shift in mindset. The Swiss aren\u2019t just motivated by the cost \u2013 they\u2019re motivated by the system itself. Squeezing as much as humanly possible into a single garbage bag has become part of the fabric of everyday life, as has separating out every last scrap of plastic and paper.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Every time I\u2019m in Switzerland, where I grew up, I find myself madly squeezing as much rubbish as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320083,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3843],"tags":[728,70,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-320082","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-environment","9":"tag-science","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114976747913042321","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320082","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320082"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320082\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}