Finding international studies on recycling may be easy, but crowning a champion is not. The trouble lies with how countries calculate recycling rates. A catchy sound bite, “Switzerland is the world champion of recycling” has been proclaimed over the years by the media, the recycling industry, and even government agencies promoting the country’s image abroad. Now opponents to a people’s initiative for a green economy, which is up for a nationwide vote on September 25, are using the claim to moot proposals to boost recycling as a means of reducing Switzerland’s carbon footprint.
Among them, economiesuisse stated in a press release that Switzerland, “a role model in matters of recycling, attains rates that other European countries can only dream of”. And in a subsequent policy paper laying out its arguments against the initiative, the business lobby group published an infographic, complete with impressive recycling rates, that declares the Swiss “world champions” of recycling.
In fact, finding the world’s top recycling nation is harder to do than the evidence suggests.
The Data
Several countries besides Switzerland appear to have a claim on the recycling crown. In the latest report from the OECD looking at overall recycling and composting rates for municipal waste, leader Germany (65%), a handful of other European countries and South Korea all fare better than Switzerland (51%).
These rates are similar to data for 2014 compiled by Eurostat, the European statistical agency. Given these figures, it’s puzzling how Switzerland could be called world champion. Patrik Geisselhardt, head of umbrella organisation Swiss Recycling, believes the title was in fact relevant at one time.
“Thanks to the ‘polluter pays’ principle, Switzerland was one of the first countries to achieve high rates (of recycling),” Geisselhardt wrote in an email to swissinfo.ch, referring to fees for rubbish bags first introduced by several municipalities in the 1990s that encourage recycling.
“It is also a fact that in the meantime Germany, Austria and the Nordic countries have reached similar rates (to Switzerland).”
Different Methods, Different Rates
But whether Germany or any other country should be named champion based on these rates is up for debate. The OECD cautions that definitions of municipal waste and surveying methods vary across countries. As a waste management expert at the Federal Office for the Environment explained, not all countries calculate recycling rates the same way.
“For example, German households can use a plastic bag to collect all recyclable packaging waste, which is then taken to a sorting centre to be separated for recycling and for thermal energy recovery,” said Michael Hügi. Even if not all of it ends up being recycled, in this case the total amount of pre-sorted waste is used to calculate the recycling rate. In Switzerland, however, sorting is done at the source, usually by the consumer, so the calculation is based on pure waste materials that are actually suitable for recycling. These differences, said Hügi, make it difficult to get an accurate ranking according to recycling rate – or indeed to crown a recycling champion.
To read the full story, visit http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/business/fact-check_is-switzerland-the-world-champion-of-recycling-/42382610.