Bern – The circular economy in Switzerland has made progress. However, a report now approved by the Federal Council sees major additional areas of application beyond recycling waste, such as avoidance, sharing, reuse or repair.
On March 3, the Federal Council adopted the report “Waste Management, Waste Prevention, Waste Planning, Measurement.” It analyzes the current state of the circular economy in Switzerland and identifies options for action. Because a variety of activities are currently promoting the circular economy, the Federal Council is refraining from proposing the implementation of measures for the time being, according to a media release.
Although Switzerland has made progress with regard to a circular economy, the report concludes that resources are still not being conserved enough. According to the authors, one reason for this is that a circular economy has long been viewed only from the perspective of recycling. Its other pillars, avoid, share, reuse and repair, have been neglected, he said. That’s why they see great potential here in particular.
Ideally, material cycles should already be taken into account in the production of goods or the planning and construction of buildings. Separate collection of compostable waste must be significantly improved, according to the report. So far, only about half of the biogenic waste from households goes to composting and anaerobic digestion plants. The quality of separate collection also needs to be improved. For example, plastics too often ended up in the green waste collection. mm
