September 26, 2024 14:22

In Switzerland, the collection of plastic packaging waste is left to the initiative of municipalities and cantons, leading to a heterogeneous approach: public and private collection centers (retail stores or supermarkets), bags distributed in shops or available online, and door-to-door collection managed by local authorities.
Overall, this involves managing nearly 200,000 tons of waste annually (including beverage cartons), with a very low recycling rate of around 3% nationwide.

To increase and streamline the collection of plastic packaging and beverage cartons, a voluntary consortium of producers, recyclers, and municipalities—dubbed RecyPac—was formed at the end of last year, supported by the Swiss Recycle association.
The stated goal is to achieve EU-aligned recovery targets by 2030: 55% recycling rates for plastic packaging and 70% for beverage cartons, directed toward "quality" recovery.

RecyPac brings together various actors in the supply chain, potentially leading to an integrated waste management system, from container design (ecodesign) to end-of-life recovery and the subsequent reuse of regenerated materials.

To facilitate collection for consumers, the consortium will offer a standard collection bag, available nationwide, and build a national infrastructure for waste retrieval. This will operate on a nonprofit basis, initially relying on existing local collection centers.

Since the collection of plastic packaging and beverage cartons is a public monopoly, RecyPac must obtain a concession from municipalities. This process will start on Oct. 1, after completing the preparatory phase that began last April, with the Swiss antitrust authority's approval already secured.

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