Plastic recycling: Swiss only manage 25 percent
For some time now, not only plastic waste but also plastic recycling in Switzerland has been the subject of sharp criticism: according to a report in the Handelszeitung, only about 25 percent of plastic is recycled in this country, mostly PET bottles.
According to current figures, Switzerland still has some catching up to do when it comes to plastic recycling. However, anyone who does not dispose of plastic properly is polluting nature and the environment. Even an affluent country like Switzerland should realize this. Giorgio Keller, CEO of the Swiss recycling collection service "Recycling Services", talks about recycling in Switzerland in general and about his collection service in particular.
Mr. Keller, why do you think the recycling rate for other plastics is so low in Switzerland compared to PET?
I think this has to do on the one hand with the fact that clear targets have been set for the recycling of PET and the population has therefore been very consciously sensitized to this. The situation is different for the other types of plastic, such as plastic bottles or packaging and containers for beverages, and finally also for cosmetics, soaps and creams and the familiar plastic bags.
Where does this "ignorance" of end consumers come from?
Many people don't even know that they can recycle them. Also, many recycling points in Switzerland do not yet offer the possibility of returning plastic bottles. This is where we want to start with our collection service and promote plastic recycling in Switzerland.
Recycling Services was founded in 2015 and is based in Dübendorf, where the company employs 35 people. How did you come up with the idea of this service?
Digitization makes it possible for us to have very many products simply delivered to our homes today. This reinforces the idea of consumers being able to do everything from home. However, in the area of recycling in particular, we have lacked a comparable offering until now. Why is household waste picked up from my home, but I have to take the recycling waste to a remote collection point by car?
We wanted to change that. Recycling should be simple. That's why you don't have to separate the recycling waste with us, everything goes into the same recycling bag. We take care of the separation and recycling for our customers.
What are Recycling Services' next planned projects?
We have just expanded our range of services and are now working even more intensively with real estate management companies. This enables us to offer our services to entire housing developments. As a result of this additional customer segment, we have reorganized our sales area and created a department each for private customers, SMEs, and real estate management companies.
Our main focus at the moment is the acquisition of customers especially in the field of real estate management.
About Recycling Services:
The company Recycling Services collects recycling waste from private and business customers. Customers can subscribe to the service and receive waste bags specially provided by Recycling Services at 35l or, for SMEs, 110l, in which customers can collect recycling waste unsorted. The following recyclable waste is collected: Aluminum cans, waste glass, PET bottles, beverage cartons, PE bottles, corks, toner/cartridges, scrap metal, electronic waste, plastics, batteries and Nespresso capsules. Households can purchase a standard subscription, which provides one collection of two recycling bags per month, or a budget subscription, which provides two collections of two recycling bags per month. Businesses can book up to four collections per month.
