Switzerland recycles more biowaste than assumed

In Switzerland and Liechtenstein, there is an efficient industry for the disposal of biogenic waste throughout the country (see box). In the total of 368 composting and fermentation plants, an average of more than 154 kilograms of biogenic waste per inhabitant is recycled. This corresponds to a total of 1.26 million tons per year. This means that there are more plants for the treatment of biogenic waste than previously estimated. Significantly more biogenic waste is also collected and recycled than previously assumed. Previous estimates were 250 plants and 990,000 tons per year. This is shown by a new study by the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), for which the cantons were directly surveyed for the first time.

According to the study, composting plants are the most common (70 %), followed by agricultural biogas plants (20 %) and industrial-commercial anaerobic digestion plants (7 %). The larger of these facilities recycle more than half of the biogenic waste. The rest is processed in composting and anaerobic digestion plants with a capacity of less than 10,000 tons of waste per year.

The majority of the products from all plants are used in agriculture and horticulture as compost and digestate.

A large proportion of biogenic waste is still not optimally utilized, as there is considerable potential for optimization in the separate collection of organic and green waste. With better utilization, nutrients, soil improvers and renewable energy can be obtained and environmental pollution (pollutants or foreign substances from fertilizers, use of fossil fuels) can be reduced.