Overall, Switzerland is a very clean country, and the government wants to keep it this way by introducing a national penalty for littering.
Fines for littering already exist in Switzerland but they differ from one municipality to another.
Typically, they go from 100 francs upwards, based on the extent of littering.
Now, for the first time, the Federal Council is about to introduce a nationwide fee, meant to “standardise nationally the fines for littering and the illegal disposal of large quantities of urban waste.”
The new penalty – up to 250 francs, depending on the “the type and quantity of waste” – will go into effect on Switzerland’s National Day, August 1st.
The Federal Council also reiterated that “waste should be limited to the bare minimum and, when this is impossible, recycling should be used.”
Those are not just empty words
As anyone already living in Switzerland knows, recycling is a huge – and time-consuming – activity in Switzerland, with the population urged to comply with various rules concerning the proper, environmentally-friendly ways of disposing of one’s trash.
All communities have recycling bins for all kinds of materials – including paper, cardboard, glass, plastic, textiles, batteries, coffee capsules, metal, and garden waste.
All must be separated, never mixed, and disposed of into designated containers.
READ MORE: What are Switzerland’s rules for waste disposal and recycling?
Not segregating your trash — for instance, throwing out PET bottles with tin cans or paper, or not putting it out on correct days or in officially designated bags — can result in heavy fines, the amount of which is determined by each individual commune.
And if you think you can sneak unapproved waste into your trash bag and nobody will know – think again.
Policing the garbage
In what is possibly Switzerland’s least glamorous job, municipal employees – also known as garbage police or trash detectives – randomly rummage through the contents of garbage bags to look for illegal trash.
By carefully examining the contents (hopefully while wearing thick rubber gloves), they are able to identify trash offenders,
These ‘criminals’ then receive fines by mail, the amount of which differs from one municipality to another.
Once paid, offenders should not toss the fines in the trash, as they may be breaking the law again — instead, they should be recycled with other paper.
While you may be tempted to laugh this off, this is not a joke.
In fact, a number of ‘garbage criminals’ have been nabbed in Switzerland in recent years:
READ MORE: Why the Swiss government rummages through your garbage
