Plastic packaging and beverage cartons are recyclable materials that can be recycled to a high standard. The industry organisation RecyPac was founded in Switzerland for this purpose. The first municipalities have now introduced the new collection system - an important milestone on the way to a standardised national collection system.
Since the beginning of January, the population of the first cities and municipalities has been benefiting from the new, nationally organised collection system for plastic packaging and drinks cartons. The industry organisation behind this is RecyPac. It aims to standardised, high-quality recycling throughout Switzerland for the two recyclable materials.
RecyPac was founded under the management of Swiss Recycle and counts distributors, retailers, packaging producers, recyclers and municipalities among its founding members.
„Based on our experience from other recyclables collections, it was clear from the outset that we could only establish a comprehensive recycling system if we involved the players in the entire recycling cycle and everyone pulled together. The fact that we have succeeded in doing this and that recyclables are now being collected with RecyPac in the first municipalities is a great success.“
Rahel Ostgen, Head of Circular Economy at Swiss Recycle
Extended producer responsibility as a recipe for success
The core element of RecyPac's strategy is the principle of extended producer responsibility. The RecyPac members take responsibility for the correct disposal of their packaging and receive in return a right of first refusal on the recyclate produced from the used packaging. This can be used for new products for the Swiss market, which means that the national industry solution addresses a key market need.
„We have been working for years to simplify the structure of our packaging and make it recyclable (Designed for Recycling). RecyPac's new infrastructure will now make it possible to recycle them, which is crucial for the development of a circular economy. Mobilising stakeholders along the entire value chain will make the difference.“
Eugenio Simioni, CEO of Nestlé Suisse
Dr Kiri Trier, Sustainability General Manager of L'Oréal in the DACH region, adds: „With the new recycling offer from RecyPac we are closing an important gap in the Swiss circular economy. RecyPac enables uncomplicated and efficient collection and recycling of plastic packaging and beverage cartons. It is a holistic solution that takes the entire value chain into account - from the design of the packaging to the recycling and reuse of the recyclates.“
A solution tailored to Switzerland
The national focus of RecyPac brings advantages that should not be underestimated, as Christopher Rohrer, Head of Sustainability & Economic Policy at the Federation of Migros Cooperatives, explains: „Coop and Migros have done a lot of pioneering work in the area of plastic recycling in recent years. Nevertheless, we have reached the limit with the regional systems. One Nationally standardised solution brings important efficiency gains through economies of scale and is primarily in the interests of consumers: they should be able to collect the same packaging in the same bag everywhere in Switzerland and receive greater convenience when returning it.“
Marc Heim, Deputy CEO and Executive Vice President Switzerland of the Emmi Group, shares this conviction and adds: „As a founding member of RecyPac, we are delighted to be working on a circular solution that is Ideally adapted to Swiss conditions is. The fact that RecyPac is structured as a non-profit organisation and has a will ensure a high level of transparency in material and financial flows, convinced us. For our packaging at Emmi, this also represents a further step towards a circular economy in line with our sustainability goals.“
Launch in Bern and other municipalities
One of the first municipalities to start RecyPac collection together with the retail trade is the city of Berne.
„For us, RecyPac is a good addition to the established separate collections. Involving the municipalities in setting up the system has also strengthened our confidence in the organisation. The fact that the recycling solution has been reviewed and approved by COMCO means that RecyPac offers us a high level of planning security.“
Christian Jordi, Head of Waste Management + Recycling of the City of Berne
RecyPac Managing Director Odile Inauen backs up these statements in her presentation and provides information on the next steps: „Cooperation with the municipalities is very important to us. The municipalities have to grant us the licence, so that we can start collecting on their territory. In addition to Bern, Dietikon, Greifensee, Oetwil an der Limmat and Schlieren also started collecting RecyPac in January.“ Other municipalities will follow in the coming weeks.
Collection with the RecyBag
RecyPac is collected using the so-called RecyBag. Consumers can buy it in various sizes (17, 35, 60 and 110 litres) in many retail outlets and from local authorities. The collection of recyclables takes place in the household. The full RecyBags can then be handed in to local authorities and certain retail outlets.
Source: RecyPac
