It is a fact. Switzerland is one of the most developed countries in the world. And not for less the Swiss people know and enjoy that a lot. They are patient, they prefer to do any kind of job with precision (even if that means very slow) than make it fast and without quality. All over these years they have learned "some" new things and some of them got introduced into their culture.
I think I can already say that recycling is part of that culture. And it is recycle or pay fine! THis is one of the few countries in the world that really take it serious. They learn as kids to respect the 3R policy (REDUCE! REUSE! RECYCLE!).
The different types of trashes in each different colored bag and trash can which are collected in a fixed time of the year fixed at the beginning of the year and they don't bring everything they see, the person who is collecting checks it first and decides wether or not to bring it. They recycle everything: from the usual paper, aluminum, batteries, pet bottles, clothes, glasses, to coffee pods and mobile telephones! Even when they buy a new TV or a washing machine, the shop is obliged to bring away the old one, since a tax is included for this in the price of the new product.
Trash collection calendar for Lausanne, each deject in its right place, even kids can do it!
Mobile telephone collecting station for recycling. Do they really recycle or they sell them to poorer countries?eheheh
Sometimes, the pieces of furniture they don't need anymore they exchange with others or just put it to the side of the house. Who needs go and pick them up. If not necessary they bring it anyway.
Exchange markets! You can find reliques sometimes!
Switzerland produces around 2.1 million tons of domestic trash, the equivalent to 361 kg/year per habitant. This is where this country differentiates it from the others: more than 60% of the dejects is transformed. And the government way of making this happen is touching the citizen pocket, the trash bags are quite expensive, not to mention the 60 swiss franc/ year trash.
Glasses and aluminum cans, 91% of them are recycled. Two thirds of the paper is reused and so is more than 80% of the PET plastic bottles (the average in Europe is between 20% and 40%) and 60% of the batteries. They are not collected in a negligent way, papers are nicely organized in piles before being taken away. This comes from the old times, when kids gathered and brought them themselves to the company in exchange for some money with which they payed their school trips. Nowadays companies are responsible for the collection. Besides, some schools still promote the collection. In some cantons you have to pay if you produce more trash. Even coffee pods, or those Nescafe cartridges, are recycled. There are separate collection containers for them! Amazing no?
Nescafe pods! Environment friend and with nice design, aren't they stylish?
Zurich, a model city in the recycling sector, has "two "power plants" that utilizes part of the trash as "fuel", incinerating and generating 70% of the city heating. In Bern, the capital, part of the old city and some government buildings are heated with trash as "fuel".
In the canton of Zug, the company Reststoffverwertungs AG (RVA) received a prize in the innovation sector in 2006. They collect plastic dejects like plastic bags (the trash bags are one of the worse), garden chairs, toys, shampoo bottles and so on and transform it into a type of extra light crude oil (petroleum).
How?Think back there: plastic is composed most exclusively of petroleum. Consider that a city with 100 000 inhabitants produce 2 000 tons of plastic trash per year; if the industrial trash is added, it increases to 6 000 tons. With this, RVA can produce 7.5 million liters of fuel, which can then be used to heat a 3 000 houses for a year.
So they collect the trash in special bags and pay for it, a bag with 400 L costs 15 Swiss fr. They transport it to the city of Sihlbrugg where RVA is located. There the plastic is ground, then a magnet and a special recipient to clean dejects separates not necessary things like wood, glass, metal, and paper since the quality of the oil depends on the how clean the plastic was. Then it is subjected to a temperature range from 300 to 400 C in a reactor without pressure which break the plastic molecules. The gases formed are condensed, cooled and liquefied in fuel form.
It is a fact this process is not cheap. They invested 5 million Swiss fr in this technology in exchange of 7.5 million liters of oil per year which is just a pilot step since they are producing only gasoline. Soon, it will be possible to produce diesel.
LEt's think twice before we throw away any plastic, starting from that one coming around and under the fruit trays or your nice shining white (or black) laptop.
Sources: wikipedia, swissinfo, http://www.plastoil.ch/
I think I can already say that recycling is part of that culture. And it is recycle or pay fine! THis is one of the few countries in the world that really take it serious. They learn as kids to respect the 3R policy (REDUCE! REUSE! RECYCLE!).
The different types of trashes in each different colored bag and trash can which are collected in a fixed time of the year fixed at the beginning of the year and they don't bring everything they see, the person who is collecting checks it first and decides wether or not to bring it. They recycle everything: from the usual paper, aluminum, batteries, pet bottles, clothes, glasses, to coffee pods and mobile telephones! Even when they buy a new TV or a washing machine, the shop is obliged to bring away the old one, since a tax is included for this in the price of the new product.
Trash collection calendar for Lausanne, each deject in its right place, even kids can do it!
Mobile telephone collecting station for recycling. Do they really recycle or they sell them to poorer countries?ehehehSometimes, the pieces of furniture they don't need anymore they exchange with others or just put it to the side of the house. Who needs go and pick them up. If not necessary they bring it anyway.
Exchange markets! You can find reliques sometimes!Switzerland produces around 2.1 million tons of domestic trash, the equivalent to 361 kg/year per habitant. This is where this country differentiates it from the others: more than 60% of the dejects is transformed. And the government way of making this happen is touching the citizen pocket, the trash bags are quite expensive, not to mention the 60 swiss franc/ year trash.
Glasses and aluminum cans, 91% of them are recycled. Two thirds of the paper is reused and so is more than 80% of the PET plastic bottles (the average in Europe is between 20% and 40%) and 60% of the batteries. They are not collected in a negligent way, papers are nicely organized in piles before being taken away. This comes from the old times, when kids gathered and brought them themselves to the company in exchange for some money with which they payed their school trips. Nowadays companies are responsible for the collection. Besides, some schools still promote the collection. In some cantons you have to pay if you produce more trash. Even coffee pods, or those Nescafe cartridges, are recycled. There are separate collection containers for them! Amazing no?
Nescafe pods! Environment friend and with nice design, aren't they stylish?Zurich, a model city in the recycling sector, has "two "power plants" that utilizes part of the trash as "fuel", incinerating and generating 70% of the city heating. In Bern, the capital, part of the old city and some government buildings are heated with trash as "fuel".
In the canton of Zug, the company Reststoffverwertungs AG (RVA) received a prize in the innovation sector in 2006. They collect plastic dejects like plastic bags (the trash bags are one of the worse), garden chairs, toys, shampoo bottles and so on and transform it into a type of extra light crude oil (petroleum).
How?Think back there: plastic is composed most exclusively of petroleum. Consider that a city with 100 000 inhabitants produce 2 000 tons of plastic trash per year; if the industrial trash is added, it increases to 6 000 tons. With this, RVA can produce 7.5 million liters of fuel, which can then be used to heat a 3 000 houses for a year.
So they collect the trash in special bags and pay for it, a bag with 400 L costs 15 Swiss fr. They transport it to the city of Sihlbrugg where RVA is located. There the plastic is ground, then a magnet and a special recipient to clean dejects separates not necessary things like wood, glass, metal, and paper since the quality of the oil depends on the how clean the plastic was. Then it is subjected to a temperature range from 300 to 400 C in a reactor without pressure which break the plastic molecules. The gases formed are condensed, cooled and liquefied in fuel form.
It is a fact this process is not cheap. They invested 5 million Swiss fr in this technology in exchange of 7.5 million liters of oil per year which is just a pilot step since they are producing only gasoline. Soon, it will be possible to produce diesel.
LEt's think twice before we throw away any plastic, starting from that one coming around and under the fruit trays or your nice shining white (or black) laptop.
Sources: wikipedia, swissinfo, http://www.plastoil.ch/
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