Included in the price: This is how we pay for recycling

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On average, every Swiss citizen pays 63 francs a year for recycling. “This varies from person to person. Because the amount depends on consumption,” explains Patrik Geisselhardt, expert on economic cycles and managing director of Swiss Recycling.

Where do you pay the most and which recyclables are cheap? Blick investigated.

There is a “pre-disposal fee” (vEG) of two cents on a 0.33 liter beer bottle. The fee for a 0.75 liter bottle is 6 kuruş. The amount must be paid by the bottle manufacturer or importer, that is, the person who puts the bottles into circulation. However, the costs will likely be added to the price and therefore borne by consumers.

In total, this brings in about 35 million francs a year. This money is used to pay municipalities that collect used glass in containers. Municipalities can sell used glass to whomever they wish within the country or abroad. A municipality charges more for glass that is cleanly sorted by color, around 90 francs per ton. And only when recycling is no longer possible is sand substituted from glass, in which case 18 francs per tonne of used glass is involved – but this applies to only 0.025 percent of the amount of used glass collected annually.

80 percent of conventional batteries and button batteries are recycled. Here too, the advance fee is included in the sales price. At least three centimeters per piece or 1.60 to 3.20 per kilogram.

When it comes to recycling batteries, operating organization Inobat, which also manages the fee pool, takes a closer look; After all, batteries are hazardous waste. This means that collected batteries are only sent to accredited disposal companies.

No money is paid to collection points for batteries. Proceeds are used to ensure proper transportation, recycling or disposal of batteries. Since lithium-ion batteries cannot yet be processed in Switzerland, they constantly go abroad.

We also pay an upcycling contribution for PET bottles: 2.3 cents for bottles up to 5 decilitres, 1.9 cents for larger bottles. Recycling works a little differently here: The PET-Recycling Switzerland (PRS) business organization purchases the material. This means that municipalities and collection points can hand over collected PET to PRS and receive compensation for their collection efforts.

The bottles are then recycled at Frauenfeld and turned into new PET bottles at Bilten GL. “The demand for PET bottles is currently so high that individual buyers are allowed to buy back their full market share in new bottles,” says Patrik Geisselhardt, who is pleased with the good cycle in Switzerland.

The cost of recycling is about one cent per can. Since there is no melting facility in Switzerland, all the collected tins go abroad.

The fee for early disposal of electrical devices varies depending on the device. For a refrigerator weighing more than 25 kilograms, this is 26 francs. “The most modern factory in Europe is located in Aarwangen, where refrigerators are dismantled, among other things,” explains Geisselhardt. Up to 95 percent of a refrigerator will be recycled at this facility, processing approximately 1,600 refrigerators per day.

Anyone who wants to dispose of their cardboard at a collection center in central Switzerland has to pay part of it. “The price of cardboard is so low that collection centers and municipalities charge for disposal,” says recycling expert Geisselhardt.

Each community is responsible for collecting paper and cardboard. So far it has been mostly free because the logistics of collection can be paid for by selling the material.

In some communities, cardboard and paper can be thrown together. “The disposal company then has to separate the two materials. But it’s much cheaper if people do it themselves.” Geisselhardt believes that the garbage bag fee helps ensure a high recycling rate in Switzerland.

1.3 million tons of green waste is collected in Switzerland. Depending on the municipality, it is free or subject to payment at the green container fee. Each community can determine this for itself. “Green waste is expensive to dispose of because large quantities have to be managed,” says Geisselhardt. The shipping cost is about 115 francs per ton, the recycling cost is about 125 francs. This means a cost of 240 francs per ton of green waste.

Whether this will change anything remains to be seen in the near future: Biogas is in greater demand than ever before. Therefore, organic waste may become more valuable.

Source : Blick