Recycling in Switzerland: you've got to know what you're doing.

I know I haven't been around much here on the blog lately. Lots going on. You know how it is. So I've been browsing through some old photos to look for something to blog about. I went right to the top, the first album in the folder marked Switzerland 2009. It says "Day one". I skipped those first albums. Didn't even have a look at it again. It's a bit scary to think about everything we've gone through. We knew just about nothing when we arrived. The first couple of weeks I spent on the internet and phone organising what needed to be organised.

Anyway, I scrolled further down and I have an album labeled "Odds and Ends". Things I didn't really know where to file. A photo here and there. I found this.

Do you know what these people are doing? No, they aren't homeless people looking for something worth saving out the bins. This is Switzerland! I do this too. This is where we do recycling. This is nothing new anymore. I'm surprised I haven't told my readers who don't live here how this is done. It took me a while to figure out where and what to do. This is not something you want to get wrong. You can get fined by the garbage police if you do something wrong with this recycling business. So here's how it starts.

All cardboard goes in a big paper bag which is in my cleaning cupboard. Newspaper goes at the bottom of another cupboard where I've got some space. Glass goes in a large paper bag which is not as lucky as the other bag to have a space in a cupboard so is stationed in a corner of the lounge, sort of hidden by a chair. It then gets taken to the recycling place when the bag gets too full or before we have guests (whichever comes first!) Oh I almost forgot there is also a bag for tins and another for plastic bottles. And plastic bottles don't go to the same recycling area. Most grocery stores have recycling bins outside for plastic bottles. Just remember to take the caps off and squish the bottle a little smaller. Are you still with me?

Cardboard in the yellow, glass (sorted clear, green and brown) in the blue containers.

Now as you can see in the first picture, you can't just dump your newspapers in the recycling bin. It gets tied neatly in bundles no higher than 25 cm. There is one Saturday a month when you can leave your newspapers outside and it gets picked up. But I have never tried to remember this date. I have to take the rest of the stuff to recycle. The glass and tins. So I just take it all together.

And that's it. Easy once you know what goes where. Oh I almost forgot - there's one other small packet: the one for the coffee capsules. Don't they make a lovely colourful picture? You don't have to tie these in bundles thank goodness. This is one thing you can just dump in the big container.

I enjoy recycling. It makes me feel a little better about how much we throw away. And if you have to pay Sfr. 2 which is almost R15 in South Africa for one garbage bag, you don't want to fill it up too quickly or unnecessarily!