In the United States, we had a huge garbage can and the garbage truck came around twice a week. They would take anything we put in that can, and if we had more than would fit (like when we put in new carpet and had the old carpet piled up on the curb), they would take that too. Super big objects, like a couch, would go if you called and told the garbage company you were putting it out.
We threw away a lot of garbage.
The Swiss? Well, they don’t do that. Just today I paid 250 Swiss Franks ($261.94 in USD) to have someone come haul away old and broken bookshelves. In the US, I could have put that on the curb and called the garbage company and they would have taken it.
Garbage here is done very differently than in the US. You pay per garbage sack–my current town charges 1.50 CHF ($1.57) per 35-liter bag (kitchen garbage bag size) and my last town charged 2 CHF ($2.10). For larger objects, you pay via weight. 7 kilos is equal to a garbage bag. But, if it’s much bigger than a garbage bag, you have to take it to the dump yourself. I don’t own a car, and I would have had to rent a van or a truck to haul the bookshelves, hence hiring someone to take them.
When you take it to the dump, you drive your car onto a scale, then unload your car, and drive back onto the scale and pay the difference.
You should see how a Swiss person can pack a garbage bag. They have those things so tight there isn’t a bit of air, and they are heavy as can be. (As long as it’s in the bag, weight doesn’t play into it.) I’ve watched Swiss friends flatten milk cartons (not recyclable) and have been amazed at how flat they can get them. Truly, the Swiss garbage game is fascinating to watch.
It’s also super annoying. In my town, we buy regular garbage bags at the grocery store and then garbage stickers to put on them. In Basel, you have to buy special blue garbage bags to put your garbage in.
As you can imagine, this can make getting rid of large objects or lots of trash a bit difficult. Enter Swiss Garbage Tourism.
I just learned this term today from The Local article: France kicks up a stink over Switzerland’s ‘rubbish tourists’.
Switzerland is small and France has looser garbage regulations, so it seems some Swiss people (and undoubtedly some expats like us), drive over the border and dump their garbage. You can see that the French are not pleased. I’m sure some do the same in Italy and Germany as well, although I suspect less in Germany because Germany is also a bit neurotic about trash.
The Swiss are good, though, at recycling. Recycling is free, although a pain in the patootie. Cardboard and paper get picked up once a month, curbside, in my town, but you better have it bundled properly. Metal is picked up once per year. Yard waste costs, but is relatively cheap and is picked up weekly during the summer. You can take your food waste to the town compost center for free, or pay for curbside pickup. Glass and aluminum are taken to local stations (our closest one is about a 7-minute walk). Soda bottles and other plastics are taken back to the grocery store. Electronic equipment goes to any store that sells electronics, regardless of where you bought it. Clothing goes to pick up points, or charities will come collect a couple of times a year.
What happens to you if you don’t put a sticker on your garbage bag or you try to throw something away you shouldn’t? Well, the latter, you probably won’t get busted that often–the garbage men (and yes, men, I’ve never seen a female garbage collector in Switzerland, although there may be some), don’t make it a habit of going through your bag. But, if you don’t put the proper sticker, they’ll slap a big red sticker on your bag saying why they didn’t take it. If you try to dump your garbage somewhere, they will go through it, looking for a piece of mail or a name, or something and if they find you (and they will) you’ll face a fine.
Now, I hate to throw useful things away so in the past I’ve hauled many things to the Salvation Army. They used to take anything–and by anything I mean I’ve seen half-filled bottles of lotion and open tampon boxes on their shelves. They went through a remodel last year though and have become extremely picky. The woman at the counter rejected my English books because they “had too many” even though their English bookshelf was half full. She rejected an umbrella because the velcro wasn’t up to her standard. And she rejected DVDS that I had originally purchased there because they were in English.
It makes sense when you consider that if they can’t sell the items they have to pay to throw them away. And so now, I have several bags in my garage of stuff that I can’t give away, but I can’t bring myself to throw out. I will, eventually, or maybe I’ll try going back to the Salvation Army when that woman is not there and try again.
So, I totally get the frustration that can build up and the urge to just drive to France and dump it and run. But, it’s certainly not fair to the French (who already deal with the Swiss factories built right on the border).
Now, from a policy standpoint, I do think this is a great system. We are dedicated recyclers now. Families only have to pay for the garbage they generate rather than the family of 6 paying the same amount as the little old lady who barely throws anything out, as it was in our town in the US. From a practicality standpoint, I sure do miss that 50-gallon garbage can.
