How does one dispose of trash here? Where to put old cardbord boxes a paper bags from stores? I've never seen different containers for paper or glass...
Thanks in advance for any help

hey shari

It is a bit complicated in Switzerland compared to some other countries in the world, but in general I would say 75% of things can be recycled (some with more effort on your part than others)

The following are some threads that people have used to answer the question of recycling before

• PET recycling -> Plastic bottle Disposal
• Glass and other recycling either in your locality or at a central collection point
• Recycling clothes either drop-off or collection
• The special plastic bags (in Zurich "ZuriSack"; other places have similar schemes with bags or stickers)

Hope that helps.

ashley
__________________

search for "recycling" and you'll get many answers or ideas.
Surely your boyfriend should also know this?

in every town or city, they have a recycling station. This is where you throw away your glass bottles and cans. Somewhere like Denner or Coop accepts your 'Pet' bottles for recycling like your bottled water, rivella et. al. Then every second saturday, depending on where you live, they will have signs for the cardboard, paper or paper products for pickup. Have it ready by then. You can ask city hall for Entsorgungsamt brochure. That is where they have all the info about trash and recycling. Such as, if you live in st. gallen, they have this website www.abfall-sg.ch as well.

Wow, thank you soo much, that is exactly what I needed to know.

glad to be of service

that's what I was going to say.

I always have a hefty bag of wine bottles at the end of every week I walk down the street!
It's a great workout

I always felt like I had a drinking problem when I was shamefully carrying two bags full of empties down to the recycling bins. I never actually saw Swiss people do this, yet the bins did fill up.

They do it when expats aren't lurking around

they drive to the bins. My neighbours do it and we live a block away from the bins. They are not old either.

Well, I do that too, and I'm 32 !!! It's just that even though the bins are only 100m away, I stock up on all (PET, glass of all 3 colors, carton/paper, cans), and every few weeks I put everything in the trunk and drop it all at once. I am married and I've 2 kids, and believe me when I tell you I can easily come up with over 20kg of paper and cartons in two or three weeks...although most of it is probably brochures, the free newspapers and general junk mail. Sometimes I feel that if I get the "No advertising" sticker for the mail box I'll prevent the whole planet's deforrestation.

Good idea. We have the "no advertising" sticker and when I feel the need to take a look at all the junk mail, I just head to one of my neighbours for some Amaretto coffee and to look at all the sales flyers. (although I would go too just for the amaretto coffees and the hell with the sales flyers )

I've been living here for 3 months and I'm still trying to get the recycling straight. Two questions:

1. Can TetraPaks be recycled? How?

2. Where do old pizza boxes go?

Any info would be appreciated.

Good question about the TetraPaks, I've no idea.

Pizza boxes: well, scoop out the detritus and stamp on them and add them to your cardboard pile. The final destination for the cardboard is not a recycling centre but an incinerator which provides heat for powerstations, so don't worry about the odd bit of mozzarella (unless your pile is going to lie around for six months, ugh...)

I found out that TetraPak containers cannot be recycled, which explains why the Migros worker was yelling at me in Swiss German as I was putting them into their plastics container.

How strange. As far as I know, all Tetrapak containers are recyclable. Cos they usually have this symbol on it (a circle with two arrows circling around)......

Or are you supposed to put them somewhere else? A specific container?


We just put them in one big yellow bin here in Germany with plastics, aluminium foil ,styropor and the like, so I can´t help you specifically.

Would love to know as we will move to Zürich shortly...

I think I've seen tetrapaks both with and without the recyclable logo on them.

But in any case, isn't the plastic top made from PET, which is recyclable anyway?

Especially if it's been in the apartment for some months already

I was told by a local that the containers cannot be recycled due to the laminated covering of the carton. I guess most of them are supposed to be crushed and put in the garbage (the containers, not the locals).

But, your right, I've seen a recycle logo on certain Tetra containers.

It is very confusing.

Hello to all... Do you think separete collection of waste (i.e. curbside collection or door to door) would be the best way to collect materials for recycling? And is there anybody who has knowledge regarding Life Cycle Assessment studies concerning recycling? Thanking you in advance for your consideration...