Switzerland – bottle manufacturers fund recycling schemes

In 2002 around 75 per cent of used glass was recycled in Switzerland. Drinks

producers in Switzerland are

paying for the recycling of glass bottles, under a scheme introduced by the

Swiss Environment Agency.



SwissInfo reports that a tax slapped on bottle manufacturers and bottle

importers is being paid out to

communities that collect glass for recycling.



The Swiss Environment Agency introduced the tax in January 2002 and assigned

a firm, VetroSwiss, to collect it.

Through the scheme, between two and six centimes have been added to the

price of drinks in glass bottles. The

total income from this tax in 2002 came to a higher-than-expected SFr24.4

million ($18.1 million), of which

SFr18.4 will go directly to those communities involved in glass recycling.

The remainder of the sum will be held as

a reserve and to cover the costs of advertising campaigns.



The agency estimates that the handout will fund most of the cost of

collecting glass for recycling incurred by local

communities.



Swiss law



The notion of “polluter-pays” – in which the companies that manufacture

materials take responsibility for paying

for them to be recycled – is enshrined in both the law on the protection of

the environment and the Swiss

Constitution.



This law already applies to PET (plastic) bottles and aluminium cans,

although the recycling of these products is

managed by private businesses and not the authorities. The agency says it is

now up to local communities to

manage the money handed out to them for glass collection and to inform their

citizens on how it is spent.

VetroSwiss calculated that around 290,100 tons of used glass were collected

in 2002, down from 293,700 tons in

2001



You might also be interested in this piece, also from SwissInfo, but from

earlier in the summer.