This is not such a glamorous first post, but one must start somewhere!

I was bundling my cardboard for pick-up and it led me to wonder, "Is all of this really 'cardboard'?"

Do the following items usually count as cardboard:
-granola bar and pasta boxes, etc - you know, that sort of glossy, thin, papery, cardboard-like stuff, and
-paper towel/ TP rollers?

Also, should I be ripping the tape and sticky labels off of regular cardboard boxes?

Thanks for the (anticipated) help!

Welcome to the forum!

They pick up everything you mentioned. Pizza delivery cardboard too. But no Tetrapak.

With a forum search, you'll find some other useful threads, like these:

http://www.englishforum.ch/daily-lif...ollection.html
ZH - Rubbish and recycling + Zurisacks (Zurich rubbish bags)

From the recycling point of view, everything made from the paper ONLY is recyclable and theoretically there should be no problem to put them for the recycling. Wheater it is cardboard, paper towels, copy/printing paper, newspapers is important for the quality of the recycled paper. Because in paper manufacturing that uses the recycled fibers it is important to know what type of paper it is coming from. Som if you bundle the papers, separate newspapers, cardbords and printing/copy papers in different bundles, becuase it will be easier to separate them later in different qualities.
All other things that come with the paper: labels, sticks, foils, plastics or anything that is not pure paper is just a problem in recycling, becuase it has to be removed eventually at some stage in the recycling process.
And this removal is quite a complicated and costly process. It cost money, energy, chemicals etc...
Very important is to know what not to recycle that is made of paper: Bigest and most difficult to recycle is liquid packages (milk, juice etc..). This packaging is coated with aluminium or plastic foil on the inside that is very difficult to remove.
From the environmental point of view it is much better to burn these packages for heating, becuase of high energy value, than to recycle them, becuase large amount of energy and chemicals is needed to separate foil from the paper.

According to my local town hall paper is cardboard:

I put paper bags full of shredded bank statements and other confidential papers out for the paper collection, all duly processed by my InterDiscount CHF50 shredder. They left then with a not to contacts the recycling dept.

Their answer was that such shredded paper should be placed in a cardboard box and left for the cardboard collection. So cardboard is paper...

Thanks to all for the timely responses! My cardboard pick up is tomorrow!!

Well paper is basically thin cardboard

Main thing is to REMOVE any plastics / or tapes, staples etc.. from the Cardboard.

You have to either bundle and tie this, or sometimes they will take a big box with the other card stuffed inside.

Our neighbours recycle thier newspapers by putting them into paper shopping bags instead of tying them into 'perfectly' neat bundles.

I tend to take the stuff to the depot myself as it saves me bundling it.

My area specifically banned stuff in paper shopping bags a few years ago. If you do it, your bag simply gets left behind.

As I mentioned earlier, probable reason that they left the shreded paper is that they were not sure what to do with this type of paper. Maybe some collecting centers have strict policy on what type of paper they collect or how they sort it.
If the only reason that they left it behind was that paper was shredded, and not in sheets, it is probably due to collecting guys who were not sure what to do. But from recycling point it is no difference between same type of paper that is shredded and in sheets.

And just short explanation about what is cardboard. It usually consists of 2 or 3 layer of paperboard (sometimes even more, depending on the type of the cardboard and usage) and it looks basically like a sandwich. 2 flat sheets, one in the bottom and one in the top and one corrugated (wave) layer in the middle. Raw material is cellulose fiber, so everything made out of cellulose fibers is paper.

Yes I was surprised that they take this as I've seen in other areas that they would NOT take this. Guess they/we are lucky.

By shreading the paper you are helping them as this is probably the first thing they have to do. But maybe they need this separate to the unshreaded paper.

Do egg cartons count as cardboard for recycling purposes? If so, should they be tied to the cardboard/paper bundle?

I was told this as well when I first moved into my neighbourhood.

But I found it really difficult to bundle together the cardboard, especially the little pieces of cardboard, paper roll holders, egg cartons, etc. So I've been putting all the little pieces of cardboard into paper bags, and only bundling the larger pieces of cardboard. Everything has always been collected, and there has never been a problem.

I've noticed that others on my street also do something similar now. So maybe the recycling company in my area is more relaxed about this paper bag issue.

Re: stuff in paper bags:

My theory as to why bags are disliked is that they are prone to split during handling and the pieces of paper can fly everywhere, both on the street during collection, and later at the processing plant. There isn't the incentive to flatten paper out when using a bag, and maybe that makes processing more difficult.

This isn't Swiss specific, but here's what ecocycle.org has to say:

(I assume that by "paperboard" is the US word for "cardboard"...)

Ah, that read more link is interesting, as it goes onto say why you should not recycle cardboard from frozen food containers. My area specifies that they don't want it but I didn't realise why.

I always put my recycling into paper bags but I also tie them up with string so the paper does not fall out or the bag come apart with the weight. They always get taken away.

I were on the same boat when I came from South Africa first time to Switzerland where we all were (maybe with some minor exceptions) used to throwing away our rubbish in specific designated for this purpose place for garbage collection in the security complex.... No one had to bother to make sure that glass needs to be separated from metals and paper or plastic.

Here towards my surprise we were struggling a bit with these new for us recycling rules, since not in all the countries all over the world they apply.

I quickly learnt that different materials should be recycled accordingly but always struggled with glass and plastics. I discovered the following which might be helpful for people moving to small villages:

- glass recycling bins in different colours white (weiss), brown(braun), green(grün) you should be able to identify next to Gemeinde in your area, same concerns metal cans next to Gemeinde as well,
- plastic bottles can be recycled in COOP or MIGROS and specially designated for that purpose bins outside (blue colour),
- all the bags purchased from Gemeinde or MIGROS have colour code for the given location (e.g white colour for Zürich area) and shouldnt contain any of the above,
- paper should be cut to the pieces and wrapped prefferably with the string (buy reel in MIGROS or COOP) and it is collected once per month with prior announcment note sticked on the wall two days before actual collection,
- any other bags containing grass or refuse from gardening or leaves they should also go to designated for that purpose boxes.

Initially it takes a bit of sniffing and eavesdropping to see how the neighbours do that but it is possible to learn and it makes life more bearable afterwards for everyone . I heard of extreme cases of the people who recycled notoriously wrong then the ''garbage police'' searches for any hints in order to get ot know where the culprit lives to be able to fine him...

As someone who volunteers twice a year for Kleidersammlung (clothes collection), and I'm sure paper collection is the same way, the reason we want you to tie everything down (in the free bags that are given or any other type of bag that is tied, we don't care) is to prevent loose clothing flying all over the place. I'm sure it is the same with paper. I don't know 100% but I think if you put it in the paper shopping bags and then tie the shopping bags it will be collected.

1- I have huge electronic/PC/monitor etc cardboard boxes. Do I have to break the boxes or can I pile them unbroken at the collection point?

2- Also what is the procedure for disposing the large Styrofoam blocks that are found inside such boxes? Where am I supposed to throw them?

3- Anyone have the link to the ZH site that has collection dates info?

My cardboard gets picked up and I have to bundle it, I'd say it depends on the collection point.


Common rubbish bag.


If you live in the city of Zurich, you can get the pickup dates for your street here. If you live in another municipality, it's one of the few informations that are on every communal homepage.

The answers to these questions will vary according to your community's rubbish policy.

In Thalwil (according to our 'Rubbish Calender' issue by the town hall):

1) We have a collection of cardboard once a month. Cardboard should be folded flat and tied with string if necessary.

2) We have a twice-yearly Styrofoam (Styropol) free bring and deposit.

3) Check you local community website/office for info.

Thanks that link solved the pickup date problem Love how everything is nicely organized in this country.

What I normally do is to return all packing materials to the store from where I had bought the item. Just tell them it is for recycling.. Coop, Jumbo Manor, Migros, Fust etc etc..