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There is not enough transparency for financial control as to how well the recycling system works. It is also unclear where the early disposal contributions are going.
What simply ends up in the trash in many countries is diligently collected, separated and disposed of in Switzerland. But now the Swiss Federal Audit Office (SFAO), something like the supreme supervisory body of the federal government, is criticizing the Swiss recycling system.
There are two different recycling systems in this country. A government mandated one, such as for glass or batteries. Anyone who sells glass or batteries must participate in a recycling system. This works, so the conclusion of the financial control.
Legend:
Retailers organize the recycling of electronic devices themselves.
Keystone/GAETAN BALLY
However, most sectors organize themselves. Whether PET, canned goods, aluminum cans, lamps or electronic waste – everything is collected. Participation in recycling for dealers is voluntary. And here there is a lack of transparency, criticizes the financial control.
Bafu is groping in the dark
Actually, the Federal Office for the Environment (BAFU) would have the task of also controlling the privately organized sectors. But the Federal Office all too often gropes in the dark: The Federal Office neither knows where the early disposal contributions are going to, nor does it know about the quality of the recycling.
“If I pay a CHF 20 disposal fee for a television, I don’t know how many state-of-the-art televisions are recycled and how many end up in a waste incineration plant,” says Emmanuel Sangra, department head at the SFAO. This recycling of e-waste is particularly intransparent. The Federal Office is showing too little assertiveness here: “Perhaps the Bafu should show more muscle here,” says Sangra.
The Federal Office would have to know whether the recycling system was working. If it does not do this, the office must provide a state solution.
The office only comments in writing: “As the Swiss Federal Audit Office emphasizes, greater transparency about the financial and material flows would also be welcome from the point of view of the FOEN. Since these are voluntary financing systems of the private sector, which were founded as an alternative to federal regulation, the Bafu can only exert limited influence. »
Industry association defends system
One of the responsible industry associations, Swico, rejects this criticism: “I would put both hands on fire for our recycling system. We have been working closely with Empa for decades, which checks our system, and we audit our recycling partners,” says Managing Director Judith Bellaiche. “Office and consumer electronics are recycled in Switzerland using state-of-the-art technology and the highest standards.”
Politicians now want to make the privately organized sectors responsible. “There are so many ways to process waste that you may have lost track of what goes where and how it is treated,” says Subcommission President Matthias Samuel Jauslin (FDP/AG).
The sub-commission “Circular Economy” has already made its first decisions. In the future, the federal government should make binding agreements with the privately organized sectors on how high the collection rate must be. It is still unclear when these proposals will come to Parliament.