New plastic collection concept: The area remains cautious

Swiss supermarket chains would like to finally start recycling plastic waste. Before the department gets involved, a few details need to be clarified.

Reusing all the plastic packaging instead of burning it with household waste – this has been talked about in Switzerland for a long time. Now the major distributors want to do things. They want to launch Recypac, a Swiss-wide plastic collection system, by the end of the year. The principle: Everything happens across the country under one roof, from marketing and setting up collection centers to transport and further processing.

The municipalities only need to sell the Recypac collection bags. The non-profit organization Recypac is supported by the waste and food industries as well as Swiss supermarket chains. The latter should provide their branches for collection points; bags must be used for a fee.

Recypac wants to address the problems that the industry suffers from, such as a lack of transparency in the flow of goods and a dubious ecological balance. “The collaboration of actors along the entire value chain allows us to improve the whole cycle,” can be read on the website. This could mean, for example , that food manufacturers design their packaging for recycling In the long term, the goal is that the quantities collected are sufficient to operate a recycling plant in Switzerland.

Pressure is high from the crowd

However, there are still some open questions, such as where the collected plastic goes at this time. There is talk of “proven classification facilities in foreign countries near the border”. The recycling rate, ie what does not end up in the incinerator, is also unknown.

Teaching about plastic recycling awareness Most municipalities in Basel and the city of Basel have so far banned the introduction of plastic collections.. The pressure from the people would be high and there are always similar political campaigns. Recypac could be an opportunity now. Resident councils in Binningen and Pratteln are already asking people to join the collection system.

Plastic is also produced in MuttenzTest phase ends at the end of the year. However, unlike Allschwil, the municipality works with an external service provider. “There are sustainable material cycles here,” said local councilor Salome Lüdi (SP). Recypac has already spoken to the community. Instead, they want to move the pilot work to regular work and extend the contract with the previous service provider.

“Plastic recycling has been talked about throughout the country for so long,” says Lüdi. “We now have a working system.” Recypac will be closely monitored as Muttenzer’s system collection volumes develop.