Complete Trash

I can't not talk about the Swiss garbage system any longer. It's too nuts. We currently have segregated piles of various trash all over the tiny kitchen counter.

The System is quite organized and initially difficult to understand, but thanks to poking around and some direct questioning of our relocation agent, we're now masters. It didn't come without damage to my Swiss reputation, however, as Hobbes and I have already been busted "garbage snooping" on two occasions--one morning appearing to stalk an elderly lady near the municipal recycling bin (innocently trying to determine which items she deposited in which slots--was that a plastic bottle or glass?) and another morning earning a quizzical look from a passing neighbor while lifting the lid of the apartment compost bin and staring overly long at the dead leaves and rotten banana peels (trying to discern exactly what goes in there; the compost bin always smells delicious--once like coffee and once like roasted red peppers).

Real progress in understanding The System was made on Wednesday at the Gemeinde, where in our Kloten "gift bag" we found a single black trash bag printed with a mysterious symbol and the always helpful Abfallkalender 2007, literally, "Garbage Calendar".

Here's the overview: in Switzerland you can't throw away any unmarked garbage bag. Every garbage bag is taxed and the tax varies by locality, and each bag must bear an appropriate local sticker that shows you paid the tax. Bigger bags have bigger taxes (although the tax per liter of garbage is the same). The tax isn't outrageous, about 2 Francs for an average kitchen-sized bag. If a bag is unstickered, your garbage collector notes it and a garbage "detective" may hunt you down to pay a fine. Technology is on their side--I actually noticed a garbage collector yesterday with a discreet Bluetooth phone headset (it was AM, he was showered and looking quite professional and I was not).

When we moved in, our apartment contained ONE mysteriously printed (not stickered) black garbage bag. A neighborhood garbage bin survey (spearheaded by Hobbes) uncovered similar printed bags. After 10 days, our one printed bag was starting to fill up. So on a recent grocery store trip we found the garbage bag aisle and bought some--only to find later no mysterious printing! Just black! Have we put any garbage in them yet? No, we don't dare! Because they're obviously as yet untaxed.

So Wednesday after registering the family at the Gemeinde, we asked to buy our garbage stickers. Ah ha, the registration agent said! Kloten doesn't use stickers any longer. They have a better system in Kloten! Printed bags. Mystery solved. So after paying well over 150 Francs in other registration taxes, we were gifted with our second Kloten-symbol-printed bag, a 2 Franc value (luckily, Zürich still employs the sticker system so our purchased blank bags will still be useful when we move there. Whew). By the way, in Kloten the printed bags are conveniently available not at the Gemeinde, but by asking for them (if you speak German) from the checkout clerk at any grocery store and paying there.

So what's this all about? The tax is an economic disincentive to throw away vs. recycle. Recycling is FREE--yes, the garbage collection company is actually named FREI (FREE!). Throughout town there are separate recycling locations (and lots of them) for glass bottles (read wine), PET bottles, organic waste, paper, aluminum and old clothes. Our Abfallkalender 2007 also indicates dates and locations for pickup of old batteries, electronics, appliances, oil & paint and furniture, among other things.

So the trick is to recycle small quantities daily. Once you know where to look for them, recycling bins are hidden in plain sight just about everywhere, especially near traffic hubs such as bus stops, train stations, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. Organic waste (chicken bones, banana peels, peach pits, yard waste, etc.) goes in your apartment compost bin; there are no sink garbage disposals. I rarely leave the apartment now without some piece of recyclable garbage with me.

The funny part is that even if you don't care about the relatively inexpensive "disposal tax", the garbage authorities track you and tax you anyway if they consistently find recyclables in your garbage. Luxurious by comparison were our recently-provided, gigantic private blue recycle bins in Chicago's Roscoe Village that accepted all unsorted recyclables (yet most of the neighbors appeared not to use them). The outcome for the extra effort is that Switzerland protects its beautiful landscape and, if you believe the statistics, that per capita garbage volume generated is half that of the U.S. Luckily Steph and I are longtime fans of recycling and don't mind the Swiss attention to detail in this case!